Don’t tell mom the babysitter’s a cannibal (because it’s not true)
A Facebook account purporting to share “trusted and reliable” local U.S. news has a post from Jan. 9 that’s regaining traction on social media.
The post, featuring a mugshot of an unidentified woman, says: “Babysitter on crystal meth eats 3-month-old toddler.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Never mind that 3 months old is firmly in infant — not toddler — territory, this story isn’t real.
If you search for “babysitter on crystal meth eats 3-month-old toddler,” you’ll find that it originated on a self-described satire site with a fabricated story that PolitiFact previously examined about a Missouri babysitter supposedly snarfing down her ward.
The mugshot is authentic, but the woman’s arrest was unrelated to cannibalism. She was arrested in Indiana in 2016 on a charge of domestic battery in the presence of a child.
We rate claims that this is a real news story Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Facebook post, Jan. 9, 2023
PolitiFact, Story of Missouri girl accused of trying to eat toddler she was babysitting is fake, March 13, 2017
World News Daily Report, Missouri: Babysitter on crystal meth eats 3-month-old toddler, Jan. 20, 2016
Fox 59, Columbus woman arrested for domestic battery with child present, Jan. 11, 2016
