Gut-wrenching police bodycam footage captured the moment a devastated Illinois mother howled in anguish upon learning her 10-month-old daughter died while in the care of a babysitter — who was later charged with smothering the infant.
The disturbing clip showed a panicked Branda Nichelle rushing to a home in Pekin, where a swarm of officers were investigating after her baby, Sylvie Zacovic, was found face down and unresponsive in a crib in June 2024, according reports and the footage obtained by Body Cam Edition.
“Is she breathing?” the shaken mother asked a Pekin police officer, as her daughter’s unusually calm babysitter, Makenna Rhodes, 22, tried to console her.
Moments later, a paramedic delivered the heartbreaking news to the wailing mother.
“Oh my god, oh my god,” the sobbing Nichelle repeatedly bellowed while slumping in distress against a car, later telling one cop, “I’m trying to keep it together but I can’t. Oh my god!”
Police were seen transporting the distraught parent to the hospital, where little Sylvie was pronounced dead, while remaining officers at the scene discussed the possibility that the baby may have been suffocated by a blanket and then turned over on her stomach, the shocking footage showed.
Rhodes and her boyfriend, who also helped care for the mom of four’s kids, were later questioned separately by police — each describing how the baby had been “fussy” when put down for a nap.
The boyfriend, who claimed he never even saw the baby, told police that his girlfriend had been texting him from her interrogation room, telling him what to say, according to the police video.
“It looks like you’re trying to get your story straight,” a female cop tells a “scared” Rhodes.
“I don’t understand in this instance why you guys would be trying to make sure you’re telling me the same thing if what you’re telling me is the truth.”
Police seized both of their phones, uncovering text messages between the pair, in which the boyfriend — whose name was not released — told his suspected girlfriend that he refused to lie to authority on her behalf, 23 News Now reported.
Rhodes was arrested in July 2024 and charged with first-degree murder after a forensic pathologist determined the baby died from asphyxiation. Her boyfriend was never charged.
Court documents obtained by the outlet revealed the suspected baby killer allegedly admitted to pressing a small “lovey” blanket against the child’s face while forcing a pacifier into her mouth until she closed her eyes and appeared to fall asleep.
Rhodes said she carried out the disturbing act out of anger on June 26, 2024, after multiple failed attempts to get the baby to sleep, according to police records.
She reportedly faces up to 100 years in prison if convicted at her trial, which is set to begin in October.
