Murder charge dropped against Minnesota mother

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A murder charge against a Minnesota woman

accused in the death of her toddler has been dropped after a key

witness left the country.

Rachel Reeves of Burnsville faced trial in Hennepin County on a

second-degree murder charge in the death of 13-month-old Julia

Rivera. A criminal complaint says Reeves dropped off her daughter

at a baby sitter's house in Minnetonka in March 2009. The baby

sitter asked her son to call 911 after noticing the child was pale

and had a blank look in her eyes. The toddler died at Children's

Hospital in Minneapolis.

The defense alleged the baby sitter should be a suspect in the

child's death. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says the prosecution

dropped the charge after the sitter left for Mexico.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Tags: murder, crime, minneapolis, minnesota