‘I would never hurt my son’: Murder charge dropped against Claremont mom after baby’s death

CLAREMONT, N.C. — Authorities have dismissed charges against a Catawba County mom who was accused of murdering her 2-month-old son.

Aaliyah Mungro spent six months in jail after being charged, and then nearly two years waiting for her charges to be dismissed. Now, she’s fighting to get custody back for her two other children.

The district attorney told Channel 9′s Dave Faherty that he couldn’t ethically prosecute the case after meeting with the state medical examiner. Prosecutors told Faherty the baby was murdered and the case is now an open investigation.

Faherty spoke with Mungro on Wednesday about her baby boy’s death in Oct. 2020. According to attorneys and the medical examiner, Kingston Knox died from blunt force trauma to the head. Doctors say they also found several rib fractures that happened prior to the baby’s death.

Within days, Mungro, who told police she was willing to take a polygraph, was charged with murder. But her attorney says that arrest happened prior to the final autopsy report that was issued in the case.

“Unbelievable, I couldn’t believe this was happening,” Mungro said. “I didn’t know what to say.”

Mungro and Maurice Knox showed Faherty some of the last photos taken of their son.

“At the beginning, the way explained it -- they were confident she did it,” Knox said.

Mungro spent the next six months in jail.

“It was a rush to justice,” said Vicki Jayne, her defense attorney.

Jayne said doctors found Kingston’s injuries happened 4 to 18 hours before to his death. During much of that time, the couple was not around the baby.

“They just wanted to charge somebody, which often times they do in these situations,” Jayne said. “If they had just waited and talked with the doctor.”

The district attorney said he dismissed the charges.

“We met with the medical examiner and he stated the injuries could have happened 4 to 18 hours prior to baby’s death, and the infant was with numerous adults and children during that time,” he said.

Mungro said she was working and caring for her other two children. She and Knox are now trying to get custody of those children back and justice for their baby boy.

“I was falsely accused. I was called a baby killer. I’ve been told I’m not a good mother,” she said. “I’ve been called a lot of things. I just want everyone to know I’m innocent and DSS needs to give our kids back.”

For now, Mungro is only able to see her other two children once a week.

“I would never hurt my son Kingston, and I never would my other two [kids],” Mungro said. “I do believe DSS needs to release them to us. We have done nothing wrong -- I’ve done nothing but be a mother to them and to my son as well.”

She has a hearing with DSS set for September.

Faherty reached out to Claremont police, who initially worked the case. They said that the State Bureau of Investigation is now the lead on the case. The DA also says he’s asking police and the SBI to do more interviews.

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