Indiana officials have leveled serious charges against a 22-year-old mother following the tragic death of her newborn son, whom she allegedly left unattended in a car seat for an extended period.
According to Dearborn County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens, emergency services responded to a distress call on March 3, reporting an unresponsive infant. Despite immediate efforts to save the child, he was pronounced dead upon evaluation. The infant, merely 9 days old, was reportedly left unattended for approximately 13 hours, as per court records cited by WXIX.
Authorities revealed that the infant had not been fed for 14 hours preceding the incident. An investigation into the matter, as detailed by Deddens, indicated that the baby had been in the sole care of his mother, Raeleigh Phillips, at the time of his death.
Phillips purportedly stated that she fell asleep and later discovered her child in a distressed state in the car seat. Subsequent findings from the inquiry aligned with her statement, suggesting the baby had been in the car seat for the duration mentioned. The cause of death was determined to be positional asphyxia following an autopsy.
On April 9, Phillips was taken into custody and charged with reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent resulting in death, according to court documents. Deddens confirmed that her bond has been set at $200,000.
Inquiries made by McClatchy News to Phillips’s legal representation on April 11 for comment remained unanswered at the time of reporting.
Patriot, where the incident occurred, lies along the Indiana-Kentucky border, approximately 50 miles southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Positional asphyxia, explained by researchers at Oklahoma State University, occurs when a baby’s position obstructs their airway, potentially leading to suffocation. Newborns and young infants, incapable of adjusting their position independently, are particularly vulnerable to this risk. Ill-fitting car seats and loose straps can exacerbate the danger.
Researchers emphasize that car seats are not intended for unsupervised sleeping or prolonged use, cautioning against leaving children unattended in such circumstances.
