Tampa mother accused of drowning daughter gets 20 years in prison after pleading guilty

TAMPA, Fla. - A Tampa mother accused of intentionally drowning her four-year-old daughter will spend 20 years in prison after pleading guilty in court Tuesday. 

Murder defendant Shakayla Denson was planning on going for an insanity defense during trial next week but changed her mind, and cut a deal with prosecutors. She pled guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and grand theft. 

Denson is accused of drowning her daughter Je'Hyrah Daniels, who had autism, in the Hillsborough River in August 2018. Surveillance video from a used car lot, showed Denson walking with her daughter just moments before.

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Prosecutors said she stole a car and drove to the river. 

"These witnesses observe the defendant remove the child, a four-year-old victim from the vehicle and take her into the Hillsborough River," Prosecutor Jennifer Johnson said in court. "Where she proceeded out a ways and then released her daughter into the river and walked away. The witnesses observe the child bob up and down and then go under the water and not rise again."

The Tampa Police Department recovered the child’s lifeless body from the water.

Along with her 20-year prison sentence, Denson will serve 10 years’ probation once she's out.