(NewsNation) — A missing person case is now a criminal investigation after a mother was charged with murder in the death of her 11-month-old daughter in Upstate New York.
Persia Nelson, 24, was charged Monday with second-degree murder, depraved indifference to human life in connection to the death of her daughter, Halo Branton, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said during an afternoon press conference, according to The Daily Gazette.
According to The Daily Gazette, the charge was upgraded from second-degree manslaughter, which comes after an autopsy revealed Halo Branton died of hypothermia.
Halo Branton was found Sunday dropped into a utility tunnel on the General Electric campus, which dropped eight feet to the bottom, where she was in standing water that came up to her chest, Carney said.
She added that Nelson was found in a GE-heated building, The Daily Gazette reports. Nelson was ordered on $500,000 bail.
According to the New York Daily News, the Schenectady Police Department activated an Amber Alert for Halo Branton around 10 a.m. Sunday, after she was last seen around 9:15 p.m. Saturday.
The infant was reported missing from a home in Schenectady’s Bellevue neighborhood around 11 p.m. Saturday, said Schenectady police officer Ryan Macherone, the New York Daily News reports.
First responders immediately rushed Halo Branton to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the New York Daily News. Once the infant was located, police canceled the Amber Alert.