Macon mother charged in starvation killing denied bond

Two years ago, a child welfare worker discovered a 4-month-old girl dead at her mother’s home on Macon’s Newberg Avenue.

Andrea Oliver had been born prematurely in November 2013, at 29 weeks, and weighed 7 1/4 pounds.

An autopsy later showed that the infant weighed just 5 pounds at her death, and had suffered a broken arm and fractured rib, prosecutor Larissa Ollivierre said Thursday during a bond hearing for the child’s mother, 25-year-old Kawanna Janesa Oliver.

Andrea’s cause of death was ruled to be malnourishment and dehydration, Ollivierre said.

Oliver was charged with murder and child cruelty April 4, 2016, following a two-year-long investigation.

A judge denied her request for bond Thursday despite her attorney’s claims that Oliver denies the allegations against her.

A Georgia Division of Family and Children Services worker visited Oliver’s home April 7, 2014, for a welfare check and called police after finding Andrea dead, Ollivierre said.

When police arrived, the infant was already in the back of an ambulance. Officers noticed an odor of decomposition, making them believe the baby” had been dead for some time,” she said.

Questioned by police, Oliver said she was the only person responsible for her daughter’s care and feeding, Ollivierre said.

Oliver’s attorney, Joseph Clark, said his client put Andrea to bed and later went back to check on her and found she wasn’t breathing.

Before Andrea was discharged from the hospital March 3, 2014, her mother had been taught how to feed her through a feeding tube, Ollivierre said.

“She chose not to feed her,” she said.

Andrea died a little more than a month after leaving the hospital.

Oliver’s case is set to be presented to a Bibb County grand jury next month.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Macon mother charged in starvation killing denied bond."