Florida – A Florida woman was ordered to spend the next ten years behind bars for her role in her chiId’s death, court records show. After she completes that sentence, the 31-year-old paernt, NicoIe, will be on probation for another ten years.
The case began in June 2023 when Florida authorities responded to the family’s home after the 8-month-old baby was found unresponsive. the woman initially told responding officers that she had briefly left the hometo retrieve an animaI and an older child who had gone outside, and that she returned to find the baby feII and face down in the family animaI’s water bowI. Deputies later said that statement did not match the physical evidence at the scene.
Florida authorities conducted a follow-up investigation that included a scene examination and a review of available evidence. Investigators determined the baby had been left unattended in a bathtub while secured in a booster-type seat. The sheriff’s office said the seat tipped, trapping the child under a few inches of water and causing the drowning. Detectives also reported that the scene was altered after the death; investigators allege the woman cleaned the area and dressed the child in a diaper in an apparent effort to make the death look accidental.
She was arrested in June 2023 and initially faced a charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Court documents and later reporting show she changed her plea and ultimately pleaded no contest to a mansIaughter charge, which led to Tuesday’s sentence. Some reports note the court accounted for time already served when calculating the term.
During the early stages of the investigation, the woman gave the account about the animaI’s water bowI to deputies, and that statement was included in initial public releases. The sheriff’s office said its detectives continued gathering evidence, which included interviews, physical scene work and review of phone and other records described in court filings. That work led detectives to conclude the drowning occurred in the tub and not as the parent first reported. Officials said their findings supported the charges and the prosecution’s case.
The husband of the defendant has appeared in earlier reporting, describing her in sympathetic terms despite the charges. Local news coverage from 2023 quoted him calling her an “amazing mom and person” while acknowledging the gravity of the situation. Court filings, investigative statements and the sheriff’s office release remain the principal sources of factual detail about what investigators found and how the case proceeded.
Police said the woman’s husband challenged her about the account she had given officers, believing she was not being truthful. Two days after the child’s death, she contacted authorities again and provided a new statement. She admitted that she had placed her daughter in a seat in the bathtub and then left the baby unattended while she went to use the toilet in another bathroom, explaining that she needed a few minutes alone. When she returned about ten minutes later, she found a disturbing scene.
According to the affidavit, the baby was face down in the water, still strapped into the booster, which had tipped forward with the child’s head angled toward the drain. The mother removed her child from the bathtub, unbuckled her from the booster seat, and returned the seat to its usual spot against the wall. She then put a clean diaper on the baby after discovering she had died.