Babysitter Found Guilty After Fatally Slamming Child’s Head Into Bathtub

At 31 years old, a woman in Michigan admitted to killing her friend’s 3-year-old daughter by beating the child to death while watching last year after the victim threw up on herself. She could spend the rest of her life in prison.

Reports say that Iesha Harris officially admitted to one count of second-degree murder in the 2024 death of young Harmoni Henderson in Wayne County’s 3rd Judicial Circuit Court on Monday.

Harris was first charged with one count of first-degree child abuse and one count of criminal murder. The district attorney’s office dropped both of the other charges against her after she pleaded guilty to the lesser murder charge.

As was already said, Detroit Police Department officers went to a house in the 15700 block of Southfield Freeway, which is about 12 miles southwest of Detroit, around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, 2024. Prosecutors said Harris had been friends with Harmoni’s mother for a long time and had been watching the child when she died.

Harmoni was taken to a nearby hospital privately to get help, but she died from her injuries and was declared dead. A police report says that Harmoni died from “blunt force trauma caused by the defendant.”

Harris was officially charged and put in jail on March 20, 2025.

In an interview with Detroit NBC station WDIV, Capt. Laurie Carter, who is in charge of the Detroit Police Special Victims Unit, gave more information about the investigation into Harmoni’s death.

A police officer named Carter went to the hospital where Harmoni’s mother and Harris had taken the victim.

Carter told the station soon after the terrible event, “When I got to the hospital, the child had already been brought there by the mother and the friend.” “When I got there, the child was already dead.”

Carter also said that hearing about Harmoni’s death made her “very disturbed.”

She said, “This should never happen to a child.”

Harris “slammed” Harmoni’s head into a bathtub, killing her, according to her mother, who spoke to WDIV.

“Things were tough for her.” “My child has autism and doesn’t talk,” the mother told the station. “She slammed my baby’s head against the tub because she was mad at her and her own daughter,”

Before Harris got angry, Harmoni’s mother said she trusted him “wholeheartedly.”

A report from WDIV says that Harris smoked marijuana while watching Harmoni all night and then locked the baby in a room with her own 1-year-old child for about three hours. It is said that when she went back to the room, Harmoni had thrown up on herself and was very angry.

According to Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Douglas, Ms. Harris told cops that she hit the 3-year-old with the side of the bathtub and poured hot water on top of her.

WJBK, a Fox station in Detroit, said that the hot water was poured on Harmoni’s head and face. The station also said that when Harmoni’s mother called Harris to see how her daughter was doing, Harris told her that Harmoni had fallen down the stairs and hit her head, but was otherwise fine. It was said that when Harmoni’s mother went to pick her up the next morning, she found the child in bed not responding.

The mother told WJBK, “She was already dead when I got there.” “She was gone.”

For her sentence hearing on May 29, Harris is set to meet with Circuit Judge Kelly Ramsey. She could get life in jail in Michigan if she is found guilty.

The Wayne County District Attorney’s Office did not answer right away when asked a question.