Mother 'drowned her son, aged 3, in the bath to stop his father from winning custody'



Amanda Smith killed her son, Jacob, to prevent a custody change

Smith also faces attempted murder charge for swinging axe at police officer



Father blames court system for allowing 'schizophrenic' Smith unsupervised access to son

A mother with a history of drug abuse drowned her son in the bath to make sure his father didn’t win a custody battle over him.



Amanda Smith, 33, killed 3-year-old Jacob, called 911 and then sprung out of a closet swinging an axe at a police officer who arrived at her home in Indianapolis.

The Johnson County Sheriff's Department received two 911 calls shortly after 9 p.m., one from Smith stating that her son was dead and another from Smith's mother, 'advising that her daughter told her that she had done something to her child that could not be undone.'

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Drowned: Jacob Smith was being fought over by his parents in a custody battle.

Accused: Amanda Smith is believed to have drowned her son

Am anda Smith and Robert Crim were in the middle of a custody battle over their son and a court hearing was set for March 14 to determine whether Jacob would continue to live with his maternal grandmother, as Amanda Smith wanted, o r to live with his father.

Jacob, who would have celebrated his 4th birthday on March 7, had been living with his grandmother, Wanda Smith, since August 2010 after child welfare workers intervened because of the parents' drug problems.

However, late last year Mr Crim indicated he had overcome his drug problems and wanted to gain custody of his son.



Mr Crim, who was no longer in a relationship with Jacob’s mother, filed documents seeking to terminate Wanda Smith's guardianship.

Johnson County judge, Mark Loyd, had warned Amanda Smith last Thursday that her say in her son's custody hinged on better cooperation with authorities.

Custody battle: A court hearing was set for March 14, a week after Jacob's 4th birthday, to determine whether Robert Crim would gain custody of his son

Although Wanda Smith had been granted custody of the boy, Amanda Smith was allowed one night a week unsupervised visits.

Crim, who was in a six-year relationship with Amanda Smith, said Smith suffered from schizophrenia and is blaming the court system for his son’s death.

He said Smith had become angry in recent months after losing custody of her two other children and because he had filed for custody of Jacob.

"She stated in the letter to the court that she'd do anything to keep him away from me, and the court blindly ignored that," he said. "She told me that she hears voices and sometimes she acted on them," Crim told RTV6.

Crime scene: Amanda Smith drowned her son at her apartment (pictured), had a history of drug problems and had called police 11 times over the previous weekend

Despite Smith's long history of problems, Loyd said, he had never heard anything that would indicate she was prone to anger or violence.

"The child is still in a case in my court," the judge said, "and under those circumstances I feel terribly responsible."

As well as her drug problems, Smith was known to authorities for her frequent calls to 911. She had called 911 more than 200 times over the past few years, including 11 the past weekend, police said.

She now faces a preliminary murder charge and a charge of attempted murder for rushing at a Trafalgar police officer with an axe.

Smith pleaded guilty to felony child neglect in December 2009 after a police officer went to her home and found that she and Crim, 42, Bargersville, had been smoking crack all night while caring for Jacob, then a year old.

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