AUBURN – A Lisbon Falls woman was officially charged Wednesday with killing her 22-month-old son.

An Androscoggin County grand jury, a group of 15 to 23 people from the community who meet every five to six weeks to consider allegations that may warrant felony charges, indicted Sarah Allen on the charge of manslaughter.

The 29-year-old mother is accused of shaking her adopted son to death.

Allen called 911 on Feb. 14 to report that the toddler stopped breathing. She told medical officials he fell while taking a bath.

The boy died the next day at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

After interviewing Allen and her husband and consulting with doctors who treated the toddler, detectives concluded the boy died as the result of shaken-baby syndrome. They say the child’s injuries, including bleeding around the retina, led to the conclusion.

Allen was arrested at her Lincoln Street home on Feb. 26.

Currently out on $25,000 cash bail, the mother continues to claim her son died as a result of a slip in the bathtub. Her lawyer, Verne Paradie of Auburn, has insisted the state didn’t do enough to prove otherwise.

Paradie has said there are several conditions in the child’s brain that can cause retinal hemorrhaging, such as meningitis, a blood-clotting disorder or problems related to amino acids.

Allen and her husband, Jeremy, adopted the boy from Guatemala in April 2002. The adoption was arranged through a private out-of-state agency, according to a spokesman for the state Department of Human Services.

At Hope House, a support center for pregnant women and single moms where Allen worked, friends and co-workers described her as a gentle, loving mother who adored her son.

lchmelecki@sunjournal.com