Mother arrested after police make disturbing discovery in cardboard box in her apartment

A Milwaukee woman is getting a mental assessment after she was arrested over a gruesome and disturbing find in her apartment, Wisconsin police said.

Investigators initially responded to a call reporting a foul smell from the apartment near North 27th and State streets. Shyanna Brothers, 28, told police that the smell was coming from old food before they found a cardboard box in a locked room.

‘I saw her out here. She asked me for some change, and then she stated that it was so stinky in her house, and she couldn’t go in.’

Police said the large box was surrounded by hundred of flies, and they found the remains of a decomposing baby inside. The rest of the room was empty.

“Bodily fluids from [the child’s] body were soaking the bottom of the cardboard box,” the criminal complaint reads.

The child was identified as the 10-month-old baby of the woman, and an autopsy found that the child had suffered a skull fracture, likely from blunt-force trauma.

Brothers told police that her former boyfriend killed the baby and forced her to hide the body, but police said they found no evidence that any male had been present at the home or had been living there.

“There was no furniture inside the apartment,” the complaint reads. “Inside a bedroom located to the east of the kitchen there was an air mattress and a television.”

Police said the child was beyond recognition because of the advanced state of decomposition.

Detectives said that Brothers made very strange statements when interviewed that seemed to worsen after time.

“He’s going to prison for this; he thinks he is a genius,” she reportedly said. “It may look like it’s me, but I’m going to get exonerated.”

She said, “Oh God, we f**ked up today,” and then barked afterward.

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A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said she never saw Brothers with a baby.

“I saw her out here. She asked me for some change, and then she stated that it was so stinky in her house, and she couldn’t go in. She couldn’t use the restroom, and I was just wondering why,” the neighbor said to WISN-TV.

She had also noticed that Brothers spent a lot of time outside of the apartment in recent weeks.

“I have kids of my own,” she added. “It’s a lot of help out here in Milwaukee. So if you ladies need help, get your resources. These babies need to be safe.”

WISN also tracked down Brothers’ adoptive mother in Florida, who said she didn’t know about the baby and had not heard from Brothers for about eight years.

Brothers is being held on a $50,000 bond, and the results of her mental assessment are expected to be completed in a month’s time.

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