Inset: Brennan K. Spencer (Cleveland County Jail). Background: The area in Oklahoma City where Spencer is accused of killing her newborn son (Google Maps).
A 33-year-old mother in Oklahoma has been arrested for allegedly killing her newborn son after getting “very drunk” on more than a dozen White Claws and sleeping with the victim and his twin sister in her arms last year.
Spencer Brennan was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of 3-month-old Rory Kelson, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Officers with the Oklahoma City Police Department at about 7:15 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2024, responded to a 911 call at a residence in the 9700 block of Mayview Court, the Oklahoman reported. Upon arriving at the address, one of the officers noted that as the infant was being taken to the ambulance, he did not appear to be breathing but was still warm to the touch.
The boy was rushed to OU Children”s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The medical examiner conducted an autopsy and reportedly determined that the most probable cause of death was “asphyxia due to an unsafe sleep environment.” The report stated that the newborn “was likely between the back and bottom cushions of the couch.”
According to a report from Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR, the father of the victim placed the initial 911 call. He told the emergency dispatcher that he found his son unresponsive at his wife’s feet at about 6:56 a.m. while she was asleep on the couch.
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Investigators say that the night before the boy was found dead, the mother and father consumed alcohol, splitting a 12-pack of White Claw Hard Seltzer before the father, at about 1 a.m., put their twins to bed in their bassinets, which are at the foot of the couple’s bed. The father then reportedly went to sleep alone.
In an interview with police, Spencer allegedly stated that sometime after the kids went to sleep, she drove to a nearby 7-Eleven and purchased four additional “tall boy” White Claw beverages, which are nearly 20 fluid ounces each as opposed to the regular 12 fluid ounces.
She allegedly claimed that after 7-Eleven, she came home, sat down on the couch, and fell asleep, saying she did not remember anything that happened afterwards because she was “probably really drunk.
“I mean, I was drunk enough to just need to pass out,” she said, according to the affidavit.
Notably, police found three “tall boy” White Claws empty in the trash.
A child abuse examiner reportedly said that Spencer getting that drunk was likely a contributing factor in her son’s death.
“Due to Brennan’s level of intoxication, her awareness levels were altered and had [her son] been left in his bassinet the risk of being in an unsafe sleep environment would have been lowered and the probability of the child still being alive would have been increased,” the affidavit reportedly states.
Spencer was arrested on July 1, 2025, and processed in the Cleveland County Jail, where she remained in detention as of Thursday afternoon, records show. A judge set her bond at $500,000.
Spencer is currently scheduled to appear in court again on the morning of Aug. 5.
