Mother of missing SC boy gives birth to daughter

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina mother on trial in the case of her missing son has given birth to another child.

Zinah Jennings, 23, gave birth to a baby girl early Friday morning, according to her defense attorney, Hemphill Pride.

Jennings has been on trial this week in Columbia on a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child. Her son, Amir, was 18 months old when he was last seen around Thanksgiving. Police say Jennings has told them misleading, false stories about where the boy is, and she has been jailed since December.

Throughout this week, prosecutors have put up more than 20 witnesses, many of whom testified that Jennings felt overwhelmed by the responsibilities of parenting. One high school friend said that the young mother told her she often pondered selling or giving away her son to alleviate the stress, or even throwing him out a window.

“She actually said, `Sometimes, I think about giving him away,”’ said Christian Dickerson, who called frequently to check up on Jennings. “She told me that she thought about selling him. ... She said it’s nothing like she expected, that sometimes she thinks about throwing him out of the car on the highway.”

According to authorities, Jennings has repeatedly said that she left the boy somewhere safe. At her trial this week, prosecutors also played a lengthy interview in which Jennings told police she needed a break from her son and that she had known the people with whom she left Amir for a long time.

The boy’s father also testified that he wanted to play more of a role in his son’s life but that Jennings wouldn’t let him. Several relatives and friends also said they would have helped Jennings care for the boy if she had asked.

Reported missing by her own mother last year, Jennings initially told police after a Christmas Eve car wreck in downtown Columbia. Jennings initially told police she had no children, then said her son was with relatives and friends in cities from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C. Investigators chased down Jennings’ stories but arrested her after several dead ends.

Jennings’ trial is set to resume on Tuesday, when Jennings’ attorneys are expected to begin putting up their case in her defense. She faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

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Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP