Calgary mom killed baby, tried to kill other son

A Calgary mother admitted on Wednesday that she smothered her infant son seven years ago and tried to kill her five-year-old son last year.

Stacey Joy Bourdeaux, 34, pleaded guilty in Alberta provincial court to manslaughter in the death of her son Sean Fewer in 2004.

Bourdeaux also pleaded guilty to failing to provide the necessities of life and attempted murder of her older son last May.

When Bourdeaux's 10-month-old son was found in his crib not breathing in December 2004, it was believed he had died of natural causes.

But that was reassessed after Bourdeaux brought her five-year-old son to Alberta Children's Hospital in 2010.

He was shaking, incontinent and unable to stand, symptoms police said were consistent with some form of trauma.

Based on that incident, police began investigating the death of Bourdeaux's baby. She was charged with second-degree murder, but that was reduced to manslaughter earlier this year.

Bourdeaux confessed to the 2004 crime in a journal entry addressed to her late common-law husband. The journal had been seized as evidence last year.

In it she said she put a pillow over the infant's face because he wouldn't stop crying.

There would have been nothing to draw police to the initial investigation had the second assault not happened, officials said last year.

In a separate journal entry Bourdeaux said she had fought with her five-year-old son for several hours. "He's a real fighter," she wrote.

She waited four days after assaulting the boy before taking him to hospital, court heard.

The child suffered brain damage. He can no longer walk or speak and requires constant care.

A pre-sentence report and a psychiatric assessment was ordered. Bourdeaux could be sentenced in November.