Mother Convicted for Abandoning Child in Daytona Beach

38-year-old Shamika Mitchell was convicted in court last week for unlawful desertion of a child and aggravated child abuse for reportedly leaving her toddler at the beach in Daytona. The abandonment occurred on November 8th, 2023, in which Mitchell was said to have left her one-year-old son at the beach late at night and walked away just minutes after leaving him there, without him. Somewhere around an hour after Mitchell is said to have abandoned her son, a woman found the boy near the corner of Main Street and Ocean Avenue. He was reportedly at the edge of the ocean partially submerged in the wet sand with waves crashing over his head. Emergency responders arrived to find him unresponsive and with an elevated pulse and shallow breathing. After initial treatment at the scene, the boy was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando for further medical intervention, where he luckily recovered from the scary situation. Surveillance footage later showed Mitchell taking the boy down a beach access staircase, and then walking back up right afterward without him. Initially questioned about the whereabouts of her son, Mitchell reportedly told law enforcement that she’d left him with his father. Police officers who responded to the scene called the father, and found that he was in Detroit, Michigan, where both parents reside. A subsequent investigation by the Daytona Beach Police Department with collaboration from the Volusia Sheriff’s Office led to Mitchell’s conviction on Friday last week. She faces up to 35 years in prison for her crimes.