Ocala woman sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2019 infant deathAn Ocala woman has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child in connection with the 2019 death of her 2-month-old son.
Melissa Waiman Schroer, 43, received the maximum sentence Monday following her conviction in May, when a Marion County jury found her guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child.According to the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, the case stemmed from Dec. 11, 2019, when law enforcement officers responded to what is now UF Health The Villages Hospital after an infant was brought there unresponsive from a residence off Southeast 36th Avenue in Ocala.
Investigators said Schroer told deputies she had put the infant down for a nap before falling asleep herself. She reported being awakened by another child who said the baby was not breathing. Schroer’s husband then drove the infant to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
During the investigation, detectives interviewed both Melissa Schroer and her husband separately and said their accounts of the events differed.
An autopsy completed in February 2020 determined the infant died from methamphetamine toxicity, with dehydration and inanition listed as contributing conditions. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide.
Authorities said Schroer and her husband later left Florida and were located in Florence, Kentucky. Both were arrested by the Boone County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 10, 2021, and extradited to Marion County to face charges.
Following Monday’s sentencing, Chief Walter Forgie of the State Attorney’s Office said prosecutors sought the maximum penalty because of the circumstances of the case and the lasting impact on the family’s surviving children.
Schroer’s husband, Jeffery Schroer, is charged with the same offense. His case remains pending.
