By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

The Alabaster Police Department has ordered a toxicology report on a 22-year-old woman who was arrested on Feb. 28 and charged with one count of reckless murder in connection with the death of her infant son.

In a press release issued on March 7, Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the reports will determine if alcohol or controlled substances were present in Maylene resident Sommer Nicole Wilford’s blood at the time of her infant’s death.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Wilford on Feb. 28 after responding to a report of a one-vehicle accident near the intersection of Alabama 119 and Kent Dairy Road.

According to Alabaster Police, when officers arrived on the scene, they found Wilford “standing out side the vehicle that was engulfed in flames.”

“When firefighters extinguished the fire, officers located the remains of an infant, presumed to be 19-month-old Jayden Allen, infant son of Wilford, inside the vehicle,” read a police press release.

After the Alabaster Police Traffic Homicide team investigated the scene, they arrested Wilford and charged her with one count of reckless murder.

She has remained in the Shelby County Jail on a $300,000 bond since her arrest.

“We are waiting on toxicology reports from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences,” Rigney wrote in the March 7 press release. “These reports should determine what was in her blood at the time of her child’s tragic death.

“The investigation is ongoing, and it may be months before all the evidence in this case has been processed,” the release read.

In a March 3 motion to reduce Wilford’s current $300,000 bond, Wilford’s attorney, L. Kenneth Moore, wrote the current bond amount “far exceeds the recommended bail schedule for the alleged offense.”

“The bail is excessive and acts as punishment for the defendant instead of securing her presence,” Moore wrote in the motion to reduce Wilford’s bond.

As of March 7, Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves had not yet made a decision on the bond reduction request. Wilford was scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on April 2 at 8:30 a.m.

Reckless murder is a Class A felony. If convicted, Wilford could face between 10 years and life in prison.