A woman has been indicted in the death of her infant son after his body was found over the summer in an Alabama motel freezer.
Media outlets report 36-year-old Amanda Gail Oakes is charged with one count of manslaughter and one count of abuse of a corpse. Oakes' boyfriend, 28-year-old Carlton James Mathis, is also charged in connection with the baby's death.
The baby, Curtis James Oakes, died while being cared for by Mathis, the Dothan Eagle reported. The mother told police her son's body was placed in the freezer when the smell became unbearable. Police say the couple left the motel for Florida, purposely leaving the infant's body behind.
Investigators say Mathis and Oakes left their home in Gainesville, Georgia, with the infant after authorities there attempted to arrest Mathis on burglary and parole violation charges, according to the newspaper. The couple checked into a hotel in Dothan, Alabama. Oakes then returned to Georgia to pick up her teenage daughter, leaving her infant son in Mathis's' care. The baby died while Oakes was gone.
Oakes and her daughter returned to the motel and spent the night with the infant's corpse. The baby was placed in the freezer shortly thereafter.
Oakes told investigators she and Mathis had been under the influence of illegal drugs, the newspaper reported.
Investigators from Georgia contacted Dothan police in reference to a possible infant death, and authorities learned Oakes and Mathis had fled to central Florida. The couple was located June 4, in Bronson, Florida. Both were arrested after a standoff.
It wasn't until after Oakes and Mathis were arrested that police learned the location of the baby. Police said the infant's body had likely been in the freezer five or six days when they recovered it.
Mathis remains jailed in Florida on several charges. Oakes will be arraigned Jan. 8 in Houston County, Alabama, where she will enter a guilty or not guilty plea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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