Washington nanny, 59, is charged with murdering five-month-old baby who was found at home with skull fracture – after ‘trying to blame injuries on toddler brother’

A Washington babysitter has been charged with murdering a five-month-old baby who was found with a fractured skull.

Prosecutors say Sharon Arger, 59, tried to blame her two-year-old brother for the baby’s injuries before changing her story 16 times in total.

Arger, of Airway Heights, is also accused of standing idly by while doctors performed CPR and failing to alert the baby’s parents about what was happening, court documents obtained by KREM show.

The babysitter was home alone with the baby on Nov. 2 when she called 911 with a report of an unconscious baby.

She told dispatchers that the boy’s brother had hit him in the head, rendering him unconscious.

The baby was rushed to hospital, where doctors discovered evidence “strongly suggestive of an abusive event.”

The baby had a fractured skull, as well as bruising to his ear, forehead and neck, consistent with “having been thrown from a moving vehicle,” according to doctors, who insisted there was no way a young child could could have inflicted such damage.

He died on November 8, 2023, according to documents after days in the ICU.

An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

The baby’s mother told police she only realized her son was in the hospital when she started receiving notifications from her home surveillance camera and saw him being taken out on a stretcher.

His father said Arger called him only once, but it only rang once.

When the parents arrived at the hospital shortly after, they told police they had not noticed any injuries before leaving for work.

The baby’s mother noticed that he had a scratch on his stomach and bruises on his buttocks, which she said appeared after Arger began observing him alone.

Prior to this, the baby’s father had been working remotely, so he had been in the house while Arger was in charge.

The parents told the babysitter that their son had recently become restless due to teething and liked to be held more frequently.

Detectives interviewed Arger and said she gave 16 different explanations for what happened.

They ranged from the baby choking on his bottle of milk to his brother “kicking” him.

On Thursday, Arger was booked into the Spokane County Jail on a charge of second-degree murder.

His bail was set at $1 million after attorneys urged the judge to consider the “seriousness” of the crime.

Arger is scheduled to be arraigned on April 9.