Police believed Regina mother accused in death of son had something to hide

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing

Regina police officers believed Chelsea Whitby had something to hide in the weeks following the death of her 18-month-old son, Emerson.

On Tuesday, court listened to the last of Whitby’s roughly six-hour interview with police. It was recorded on Aug. 5, 2020, the day after she was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Based on Whitby’s behaviour, police thought she was lying about the events that led to her son’s death. Autopsy results show Emerson died from blunt force trauma to the head on June 10, 2020.

However, Whitby’s late-boyfriend maintained their innocence in letters he wrote prior to his death by suicide.

Taylor Stewart’s suicide notes, obtained by CTV News, have been submitted as Crown evidence.

In the letters addressed to his parents and Whitby, Stewart denied ever hurting Emerson and he believed Whitby did nothing to hurt her son, either.

Whitby, 27, has now entered the third week of her second-degree murder trial at the Court of King’s Bench in Regina.

During her August 2020 interview, officers repeatedly asked Whitby what happened the morning she found her son unresponsive.

Whitby told police she went into Emerson’s room for the first time that morning around 10 a.m. He was limp and wouldn’t wake up, she said. Whitby could not explain how Emerson sustained his fatal head injury.

“The injuries don’t fit the story,” one officer told her.

Police believed Whitby was more concerned about protecting herself than she was about finding out who hurt her son.

Whitby never asked officers for an update on the investigation or the autopsy, and police said she made inappropriate comments in the days following Emerson’s death.

Police recorded a private conversation between Whitby and Stewart. She said three times that she would rather have Emerson dead than herself. During another recorded conversation with a friend, Whitby giggled while she explained how she found her son dead.

“I’ve said this story so many times. My reaction is not the same every time I tell it,” Whitby told police.

Whitby maintained her innocence throughout the police interview. She said a lot of her behaviour was influenced by what her mother and lawyer told her to do.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said.

“I did not hurt my child. I intentionally did not.”

A police officer played back a recorded phone call for Whitby to listen to. The conversation was between her parents.

“How do I protect her?” asked Lisa Vitrue, Whiby’s mother.

“I hope they blame Taylor.”

Police questioned why Whitby would need to be protected if her mother believed she was innocent.

“Because I’m her daughter and that’s what she is supposed to do,” Whitby told the officer.

PEDIATRICIAN CONCLUDES TESTIMONY

Pediatrician Dr. Juliet Soper finished her testimony during cross-examination on Tuesday.

Soper treated Emerson the day he died. She referenced a UK study related to bruises on preschool children in her hospital report.

She told court that the number of bruises on children tends to relate to their activities rather than genetics.

“Emerson had more bruises than children of his age and activity in this study,” Soper testified.

Court previously heard Emerson had bruises on his face, eyes, jawline, neck and upper torso the day he died. Some of the bruises on his face and forehead were not there the day before his death.

Soper testified bruises on boney surfaces often show up immediately. However, she admitted it is difficult to determine the exact timing or cause of a bruise just by looking at it.

Previous statements heard in court suggest that some of Emerson’s jawline bruises were a result of the toddler sleeping on a beaded lanyard attached to his soother.

Soper doubted the lanyard could cause bruising like that.

“It’s very uncommon to see bruising from that,” Soper said.

Most of the Crown’s evidence has been submitted under a voir dire, which means the judge must first determine if it is admissible. If she decides to apply the evidence to the trial, she will then consider it in her final decision.

Court is adjourned until Friday when the Crown and defence will make their final arguments on the voir dire application.