Police hunting for sitter charged in shaken baby case

By Michele Richinick, Globe Correspondent

Norwood Police are searching for a 34-year-old babysitter who is charged with shaking a 4-month-old baby boy in late December and fracturing his skull.

Authorities said Sueli Soares was charged with assault and battery on Jan. 12 after an investigation.

Soares called police on Dec. 30 at 6:30 p.m., requesting medical attention for Nicholas Marcelino. Soares said the baby was unresponsive after choking on formula she had been trying to feed him, said Paul Bishop, a Norwood police spokesman.

When police arrived at the Coventry Lane home in Norwood, the baby was breathing. He was transported to Norwood Hospital and then to Boston’s Children Hospital.

Doctors determined Marcelino had a fractured skull and several broken vertebrae, which police said could have been caused by being “grabbed by the torso and shaken.”

“The baby is back home with his family, [but] we don’t know the condition of him for the long-term,” Bishop said. “Right now he seems to be out of immediate danger.”

After the incident, Norwood Police spoke with all of the people involved, and they interviewed the babysitter.

“She basically told us she wasn’t responsible for any injury sustained by the child,” Bishop said.

On Jan. 12, Norwood Police applied for a warrant of assault and battery with the intent to cause harm to a child against Soares.

“We believe the babysitter, who was in custody of the child at the time, did harm to the child,” Bishop said.

Soares, who used to reside on Dean Street in Norwood, is still at large, Bishop said. Police have a warrant out for her arrest.

Initially, police thought Soares fled the country, but she could be driving a light blue 2005 Chevy Trailblazer with the Mass. license plate number “57Z-P94,” Bishop said.

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