By Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
Fredericksburg Police say they are “actively investigating” an incident that required CPR and, according to neighbors, involved the death of a child in the city’s Elmhurst neighborhood at a duplex owned and operated as a refuge house by the local anti-abortion/pregnancy support organization Mary’s Shelter.
Police haven’t confirmed the death, but released a 911 call log from the Pelham Street address with an entry that read, “10/28/2026 03:11 CPR in Progress (active case).” Neighbors reported overhearing a Mary’s Shelter resident standing in the parking lot in front of the duplex talking about the overnight death there of a child, sparking concerns about child safety given the death of an infant in another nearby Mary’s Shelter home three years ago.
In the recent case, neighbors reported that they were awoken at around 3 a.m. Wednesday, October 28, by sirens and the arrival half a dozen police cars, an ambulance, and other emergency vehicles at 630 Pelham Street, the former location of Charley’s Market and now one of six Mary’s Shelter locations in the city. Neighbors said that four police cars remained on site for much of the following morning.
A Mary’s Shelter employee who answered the phone at the organization’s 1601 Princess Anne Street office on Thursday said she wasn’t authorized to say anything about “the situation,” and wouldn’t allow a reporter to enter the office later in the day to speak with administrators.
Mary’s Shelter Executive Director Kathleen Wilson did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the reported October 28 death—or about the 2023 “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death” of a two-month-old baby girl three blocks away at the organization’s Charles Street location.
According to Fredericksburg Police records, on July 3, 2023, at 10:19 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call for a “Death Investigation” at 1817 Charles Street—a five-bedroom home also owned and operated by Mary’s Shelter as a refuge for pregnant women and new parents.
Eleven days later, on July 14, 2023, the child’s mother, 21-year-old Ijah Renee Langham-Anderson, was arrested and charged with two counts of Felony Child Abuse/Neglect, according to Fredericksburg Police. The case languished in the courts for two years—through multiple jury trials scheduled and then cancelled—until July 8, 2025 when Langham-Anderson pled guilty to two counts of Felony Neglect. She was sentenced to five years in prison with four years suspended, and two years of supervised probation after her release.
Social Service and Police records indicate that there were warning signs in 2023 prior to the infant’s death. A 2024 Virginia Department of Social Services document—“Preliminary Report on Child Deaths Due to Abuse or Neglect in Virginia During SFY [State Fiscal Year] 2024. Table of Founded Investigations with a Child Death”—contains an entry that, though it doesn’t specify the locale or give any names, matches the circumstances of Langham-Anderson’s case:
Child sex: Female
Child Age (Years): 0.2
Abuser: mother
Abuse Type: Physical Neglect.
In May 2023, the LDSS [Local Department of Social Services] received a referral stating that the mother had her newborn (the decedent) in the hospital bed laying next to her, without the safety rails up and was yelling at her toddler. This referral was screened out. In May 2023, the LDSS received a second referral stating the mother and newborn were positive for marijuana. This referral was screened out; however, family support services were offered to the family which were declined.
Child was found unresponsive in the home. Cause of death is SUID [Sudden Unexpected Infant Death] associated with co-sleeping and soft bedding.
On June 15, 2023, a month after the infant was born, Fredericksburg Police say they responded to a 911 call at 11:58 a.m. for “Police Advice” at the 1817 Charles Street address. Police said audio and transcripts of that and other calls to 630 Pelham, 632 Pelham, and 1817 Charles were “past retention period,” making the precise nature of those calls unclear. The calls, several over the past three years, included reports of “Assault,” “Found Property,” “Public Agency Assist,” “Threats or Harassment,” and “Welfare Check.” The Advance has submitted a Freedom of Information request for 911 calls that may have been routed to Fredericksburg Fire and Rescue instead of police and is waiting on a response.
Mary’s Shelter, which describes itself as a “pro-life ministry,” was founded in 2006 by Kathleen Wilson and has close ties to the Catholic community. The organization’s website says it requires mothers living in their facilities to take parenting classes, undergo life skills training, attend counseling, and “adhere to program covenants.” The website doesn’t reference having live-in staff, or list any in-house manager positions or employees. With no response from Wilson, and after being turned away from the Shelter’s Princess Anne Street office, The Advance has not been able to ask organization officials about oversight or supervision at shelter locations.
Jill Payne, one of Virginia’s longest-serving advocates for vulnerable children, said safety protocols for children living in shelters are critical. Now retired, Payne spent decades working as a Case Manager and Executive Director for the Rappahannock Area Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, which judges appoint to advocate for abused and neglected children. Payne, speaking broadly about child welfare and not about specific cases, said she saw time and again that shelter alone is often not enough to keep children safe.
“Obviously it’s important for parents and kids to have a place to live,” Payne said. “But when you’re dealing with high-risk families, and especially with babies, there needs to be close oversight. The stakes are so high.”
It is not clear how or if Mary’s Shelter screens prospective residents to determine whether they can independently take care of their babies, whether they struggle with substance abuse or mental health issues, or whether other factors may put a child’s safety at risk.
Mary’s Shelter’s website does indicate that the organization promotes safe-sleep protocols, which are designed to prevent cases of sudden infant death that can occur when babies suffocate under inappropriate bedding or co-sleep with parents. Virginia Department of Social Services strongly advocates for safe-sleep protocols for all children, and especially when parents have substance abuse issues, which are a risk factor in many child death investigations. It’s not clear whether Mary’s Shelter staff perform inspections or otherwise determine whether residents are abiding by these protocols.
New parents and their children are allowed to stay in Mary’s Shelter homes for up to three years, according to the organization’s website. The 2,000 square-foot Charles Street house, purchased by Mary’s Shelter in 2019 for $265,000 and assessed at $458,500, has five bedrooms and two bathrooms. It’s not clear how many women and children were living there at the time of the infant’s death in 2023, or live there now. Nor is it clear how many new mothers and children are living in the duplex at 630/632 Pelham. That house, purchased for $700,000 in 2022 (and assessed at $551,000), is 3,300 square feet and has six bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Mary’s Shelter, which has been widely featured in both local and national media—including conservative TV personality Tucker Carlson’s show when he was still with Fox News—is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that says it doesn’t take money from any state or federal agencies, but relies on contributions and fundraising events for all revenue. The organization brought in $928,662 last year, and spent $803,455—$277,252 of it on salaries, according to Mary’s Shelter’s most recent 990 tax form. Net assets were listed as $2,003,471.
Payne, the longtime child advocate, said any organization providing housing or case management to struggling families should put every possible practice in place to protect children. “When a child gets hurt or dies, as hard as it is, you really need to ask tough questions about whether anything else could have been done to protect them,” she said.
These questions include, but aren’t limited to:
· What level of onsite staffing exists to closely oversee children’s safety?
· Who lays eyes on the babies and children there, and with what frequency, to make sure they are appropriately fed, supervised, and cared for?
· Who checks to make sure safe sleep protocols are being followed?
· Who intervenes, and how, if a parent appears to be struggling to safely care for their children?
It is unclear who made phone calls from Mary’s Shelter to 911; questions also linger about the extent of DSS involvement in the life of the child who died in 2023.
“It’s heart-breaking when a child dies,” Payne said. “I always hope it triggers changes that minimize the risk of it happening again.”
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Steve Watkins is editor of The Advance.
Another wildly conjecture article with no facts to support. Watkins claim that a child died is dependent of rumors of neighbors and has not been confirmed. Also has no connection that the supposed deaths were related. He also goes out of his way to try to suggest that there was wrongdoing on the shelter yet offers no proof to do so.
Rather close to a defamation suit in my opinion.