NEED TO KNOW
- Brennan Spencer, 33, is charged with second-degree murder following the death of her newborn son
- The two-month-old was found dead at his mother’s feet while his twin sister was being held on the couch after Spencer had been drinking the previous night
- Spencer allegedly told police she had been “probably really drunk” when she went to sleep
The mother of a baby boy found unresponsive in an Oklahoma home is now facing charges related to his death.
Brennan Spencer, 33, was taken into custody by officers with the Oklahoma City Police Department last week and charged with second-degree murder following the 2024 death of her son.
According to a copy of the arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, Spencer went to sleep with her newborn twins — RK and LK — after a night of drinking. Detective Matthew Bermel writes in the affidavit that Spencer woke up a few hours later with LK in her arms and RK dead at her feet.
Spencer and the father of the twins, James Kelson, both spoke with police when they arrived at the home on Nov. 2.
Kelson told the responding officers that he and Spencer had spent the night splitting a 12-pack of White Claw alcoholic seltzers before he went to bed shortly after midnight.
Spencer and the twins went to bed at the same time, said Kelson, who told the officers that the newborns were “laid in the bassinets at the foot of their bed.”
At 6:45 a.m., Kelson awoke to find that Spencer and the children were no longer in the bedroom, according to the affidavit.
He told officers that he went to the living room to check on them, at which time he found Spencer laying on the couch holding their daughter while their son lay unresponsive at her feet.
In her interview with police, Spencer said that Kelson had directed her to get them more White Claw around midnight, at which point she went to a nearby 7-Eleven but passed out on the couch upon arriving home.
Then, after being read her Miranda rights, Spencer allegedly told police she had been “probably really drunk” when she went to sleep.
“I mean, I was drunk enough to just need to pass out,” she allegedly told officers.
Bermel wrote in the affidavit that he obtained video from the store, which showed Spencer arriving at 1:23 a.m. and leaving four minutes later with four “tall boy” cans of White Claw.
The affidavit also noted that officers found three of those “tall boy” cans in the trash, along with the 12 cans from the case consumed by the couple.
The medical examiner later determined RK’s probable cause of death to be “asphyxia due to an unsafe sleep environment,” according to the affidavit.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
The affidavit also includes the findings of Deputy Chief Child Abuse Examiner Ryan Brown, who said in a maltreatment report that RK “was a victim of neglect” due to Spencer’s “level of intoxication” and her altered “awareness levels.”
He also said that there would have been a lower risk of being in an unsafe sleep environment and a higher probability of RK still being alive if he had been left in the bassinet that night, according to the affidavit.
Bermel sent the case to the Cleveland County District Attorney on June 26 to review, and on July 1 a judge signed off on the arrest warrant.
Spencer — who has yet to enter a plea — remains in custody after her bail was set at $500,000. She will be in court on Aug. 5 for a preliminary hearing.
Her partner, however, has remained by her side throughout all this, and posted on Facebook shortly after Spencer’s arrest: “Does anyone know any pro bono lawyers that would help me and mom with a state VS accidental death of a child case?”
Read the full article here