US woman admits shaking baby to death

Woman murders infant because he was crying and interrupting her game of Farmville on Facebook.

MIAMI: A Florida woman, angry because her baby’s crying was interrupting her game of Farmville on Facebook, has pleaded guilty to murder after shaking the infant to death, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Alexandra V Tobias, 22, of Jacksonville, entered the plea in the January death of three-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson before Circuit Judge Adrian Soud on Wednesday, the Florida Times-Union said.

Tobias could face up to life in prison. The newspaper said a sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December.

The Times-Union said Tobias told investigators she became angry because her baby was crying while she was playing Zynga’s FarmVille.

She said she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette, and then shook him again and that the infant may have hit his head during the shaking.

Zynga claims more than 230 million monthly active users of its games, which include “Mafia Wars,” “Treasure Isle,” “Zynga Poker,” “Cafe World,” “FishVille” and “PetVille” in addition to “FarmVille.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2010.