Bartow mother charged with murder of child

3-year-old boy drowned in swimming pool on Monday.

A Bartow County woman was charged with felony murder Monday night, hours after her 3-year-old child was found unresponsive in a swimming pool, according to police.

It was the county’s second drowning involving young children over the holiday weekend. But investigators do not believe the child’s death Monday was an accident, according to the Bartow County Sheriff ’s Office.

Police and paramedics were called to a Canter Lane home shortly after 1:30 p.m., according to Bartow EMS director Brad Cothran. A deputy pulled the boy from the pool, but the child was unconscious and not breathing.

Paramedics determined the child had been underwater too long to be resuscitated, Cothran said. The Bartow County coroner was called to the Cartersville-area home.

Just after 6 p.m., the child’s mother, Bobbie Jessica Prather, 32, was arrested and charged with felony murder, according to Sgt. Jonathan Rogers. Prather was also charged with four counts of cruelty to children in the first degree, Rogers said. Three other children in the home were taken into protective custody, he said.

No further details were released about the child’s death. The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services is assisting with the investigation.

In the previous death Saturday, a 3-year-old girl drowned in a private pool in Cartersville, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Shortly before 1 p.m., family members found the child in a pool at a Waterford Drive home and attempted CPR, according to police. Paramedics continued CPR on the child while headed to Cartersville Medical Center, but the girl did not survive. Her name was not released. Cartersville police believe Saturday’s death was accidental.