Rocky Mount couple charged in 1-year-old's death making first court appearance

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Rocky Mount mother and her boyfriend made their first court appearance after being charged in the death of a 1-year-old.

Police found the infant injured and unresponsive in a bathtub Sunday morning at a home on Paul Street.

The child was taken to the hospital and later died.

A next door neighbor, Susan Drake, remembers seeing the child just days before his death.

"He was out there, I think it was his mother. They were sitting on the porch and the little dog they've got over there, I waved to him and he kind of waved back," she said.

That's why she and others are shocked by news of the child's death.

The North Carolina Medical Examiner's office will conduct an autopsy to determine an official cause of death.

The mother, 27-year-old Sierra Eley, is now charged with felony child abuse.

Her boyfriend, Marcus Richardson, is charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse.