3-month-old boy dies of COVID after mom left him home with 9-year-old, Indiana cops say
An Indiana mom is facing felony charges after police say her 3-month-old died from COVID-19 complications after she left the baby with her 9-year-old son.
On Nov. 28, Indianapolis Metropolitan police went to the home of the 26-year-old mother of three, according to an affidavit. An officer found an unresponsive 3-month-old outside the home being given CPR by bystanders.
The baby was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital soon after.
After the officer noticed the home to be “filthy and in disarray,” he conducted a search and discovered there was no electricity or food, the affidavit said.
The officer interviewed a neighbor, who said the three children were home unattended the previous evening. She said her son took a video of the baby “laying alone in the dark house, screaming with no adults in sight.” The neighbor then told her son to bring the three children over to her home for the evening.
The neighbor told police that she noticed the baby was cold, soiled and having difficulty breathing while lying on his back. The 9-year-old boy mentioned his 7-year-old sibling often had difficulty carrying the baby and “often dropped him,” the affidavit said.
Their mother came to the home at 2 a.m. looking for her children, the affidavit said, and took them home before leaving later that morning.
The child’s mother originally told police she had been home all day Nov. 27 and the next morning with the sick baby, but then admitted she was lying when police confronted her with what others had said, the affidavit said.
The mother told police she’d gotten back to her home’s parking lot at around 9 p.m. but did not go get her kids from the neighbors until about 2 a.m. because she “needed to vent” to a friend, the affidavit said.
Police spoke to the mother’s 9-year-old son, who said he had been taking care of the baby while his mom was away that day. After waking up the next morning, he found the 3-month-old not breathing, the affidavit said.
Doctors told officers if the baby had survived, there would be concern about brain damage given the amount of time his brain was without oxygen.
Several other complaints were issued prior to the baby’s death regarding the children being left home unattended while the mother was “engaged in leisure activities,” the affidavit said.
An autopsy of the 3-month-old revealed that he had been sick from the coronavirus, and the cause of death was complications from a COVID-19 infection.
Court records show the Indiana mother was charged on Feb. 15 with felony child neglect resulting in catastrophic injury.
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 3:56 PM with the headline "3-month-old boy dies of COVID after mom left him home with 9-year-old, Indiana cops say."
