Illinois mom's two-year probation sentence in child death case sparks outrage

We're hearing from the community activists who are outraged over this next story. The mother of a one-year-old who was killed was sentenced to just two years of probation. Saquon joins us now live from the newsroom with this story. Just so awful, say. Yeah, exactly, Lauren. We just heard from a couple of local activists who say a two-year probation sentence for the mother convicted of child endangerment and concealing her daughter's homicide is a complete slap in the face considering what had happened to her. In July of 2017, firefighters pulled baby Anna Marie's body from a burning vacant home in Markham. The Cook County medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, saying she showed signs of physical trauma before the fire. For two long years, that baby was known only as Baby Jane Doe before DNA tests finally identified her. Police eventually tracked down her mother, Melody Townsend, in California, extraditing her back to Illinois to face these charges. But now, word of a two-year probation sentence has sparked a lot of frustration among people who spent years fighting for this little girl. Today, those activists called this punishment the opposite of justice. And they're now calling for a full explanation of the sentencing outcome and an update to the homicide investigation. The sentence that you gave her, whether she has mental or not, you knew that was your child, you knew that was your baby. That baby was placed in a plastic bag, thrown in a house and set afire. Now what we're asking for today, we know that police officers did their due diligence, they did their work. What happened is when it hit this end stage, a mother only received two years of probation and was asked to get some counseling. Now the issue is that there's still another person out there. There's still another person that helped with this murder. So those activists are now calling on anyone who might know more about what happened on that day on July 3rd, 2017 to come forward. Lauren. And I think it's so important too to remember here to say that even just a small little piece of anything that you might know could be so helpful to these people investigating. Yeah, Lauren. And I think it's important to note too that these activists were very clear when they said if you have any information that you'd like to report your identity can stay anonymous. So that's always something to keep in mind. These tips can stay anonymous, and your identity doesn't have to always be out there. All right, say thank you so much for covering this really appreciate it.