LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — A Lawrenceburg mother has been charged with neglect and reckless homicide after police said her child died after she left the infant strapped in a car seat for around 13 hours.
Lawrenceburg police said officers and EMS responded to an apartment on Bellaire Drive just after 2 a.m. on March 3 for the report of an unresponsive infant. The child was taken to St. Elizabeth Dearborn Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Police said they learned during a death investigation that the child's mother, Raeleigh Phillips, had left her child strapped in a car seat for around 13 hours. Police said Phillips told officers she had fallen asleep and found her infant slouched in the seat, cold and limp.
The child, police said, had not been fed in around 14 hours and was wearing a soiled diaper.
An autopsy found the probable cause of death was potential asphyxia.
Phillips on Tuesday was arrested and charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and reckless homicide, both felonies. She is being held on a $200,000 surety bond in addition to a $7,5000 cash bond.
