Indianapolis, IN – According to the court documents, the 25-year-old caretaker, later identified as HaiIynn, was arrested and later charged with negIect of a dependent resulting in death after the 1-year-old baby in her care drowned to death while the woman was talking with her friend on the phone. The fatal incident occurred earlier this year while the fster parent was formally charged last week, court records say.
In May this year, the woman called 911 and told the dispatcher about an unresponsive baby. First responders rushed the 1-year-old baby, Noova, to the hospital where she died nearly one month later. During an interview with investigators, the 25-year-old caretaker reportedly said that she put the child in the bathtub with her two other children while she went upstairs to drink water.
When she returned, the woman found the child floating on her back in the water.According to the child’s biological parents, their 1-year-old baby was born prematurely at 32 weeks and lived with multiple health problems. In a follow-up interview with investigators, the 25-year-old guardian reportedly told investigators that she hadn’t been completely honest in her previous interviews.
The woman also said that she put the child in the bathtub while she went upstairs. Minutes later, her children yelled and she found the baby unresponsive. The woman later admitted that she was talking on the phone with someone for nearly two hours. She had actually been on the phone with a friend the entire time the kids were in the bathtub, which was from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. During that time, she left the baby unattended for more than half an hour while talking on the phone in another room.