Infant’s Death Leads To Neglect Of Dependent Plea
December 21, 2018 at 5:26 p.m.
Infant’s Death Leads To Neglect Of Dependent Plea
By David [email protected]
Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge David Cates scheduled her plea acceptance and sentencing for 10 a.m. Feb. 7.
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On Oct. 30, 2017, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputy Christopher Francis responded to an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15.
On Oct. 30, 2017, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer responded to a call of an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15, Warsaw. When the officer arrived, medical personnel were providing medical attention to the infant, whose father was identified as Steven Brown in court documents.
The child, Elena Lanae Moore, was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Steven and Marissa, who have since married, told the officer they were sleeping in the same bed as the infant and woke up to find her unresponsive. Officers investigated the area where the girl was and found a bottle that had the nipple cut to make it bigger. The bottle contained formula mixed with cereal in a thick paste.
A Child Protective Service caseworker and the officer spoke with Marissa, who said she went to bed around midnight. The infant was lying on her back with a pacifier.
At about 4 a.m., the infant wanted a bottle and Marissa gave her one and then laid back down. Steven came home from work around 5:30 a.m. and went to bed. Marissa then went back to sleep.
Sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., according to court documents, the infant wanted another bottle. Marissa fed the child, burped her and laid her back down.
Later in the morning, Marissa’s other daughter came into the room and woke her and Marissa went to help the girl. Steven woke up and told Marissa the infant was cold to the touch, looked white and was not breathing.
Court documents say Marissa used cereal to thicken the formula because the nipple was torn. The cereal helped stop the formula from pouring out easily. Marissa said the nipple was torn by a cleaning brush and nipples are expensive so she had not been able to buy a new one. Marissa said she had been putting cereal in the bottle for a week, and she wouldn’t have had to put cereal in the bottle if the nipple had not been torn.
Marissa said a doctor never told her to mix cereal with the formula, she just did it on her own.
Steven said he and Marissa decided to feed cereal to the infant because she did not seem to be getting enough from just the formula. They had been adding cereal to the bottle for approximately two weeks, he said. Steven said the nipple hole had been enlarged to get the cereal out of the bottle. He did not see it, but he believed Marissa made the hole in the nipple larger.
A Northwest Indiana Forensic Center pathologist found the child’s cause of death was “aspiration of food and unsafe sleeping,” according to court documents.
Marissa was arrested Dec. 30, 2017, for neglect of a dependent and has since bonded out.
Marissa, 21, of Warsaw, is represented by attorney Dana Leon.
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Kosciusko County Superior Court I Judge David Cates scheduled her plea acceptance and sentencing for 10 a.m. Feb. 7.
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On Oct. 30, 2017, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department deputy Christopher Francis responded to an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15.
On Oct. 30, 2017, a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer responded to a call of an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15, Warsaw. When the officer arrived, medical personnel were providing medical attention to the infant, whose father was identified as Steven Brown in court documents.
The child, Elena Lanae Moore, was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Steven and Marissa, who have since married, told the officer they were sleeping in the same bed as the infant and woke up to find her unresponsive. Officers investigated the area where the girl was and found a bottle that had the nipple cut to make it bigger. The bottle contained formula mixed with cereal in a thick paste.
A Child Protective Service caseworker and the officer spoke with Marissa, who said she went to bed around midnight. The infant was lying on her back with a pacifier.
At about 4 a.m., the infant wanted a bottle and Marissa gave her one and then laid back down. Steven came home from work around 5:30 a.m. and went to bed. Marissa then went back to sleep.
Sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., according to court documents, the infant wanted another bottle. Marissa fed the child, burped her and laid her back down.
Later in the morning, Marissa’s other daughter came into the room and woke her and Marissa went to help the girl. Steven woke up and told Marissa the infant was cold to the touch, looked white and was not breathing.
Court documents say Marissa used cereal to thicken the formula because the nipple was torn. The cereal helped stop the formula from pouring out easily. Marissa said the nipple was torn by a cleaning brush and nipples are expensive so she had not been able to buy a new one. Marissa said she had been putting cereal in the bottle for a week, and she wouldn’t have had to put cereal in the bottle if the nipple had not been torn.
Marissa said a doctor never told her to mix cereal with the formula, she just did it on her own.
Steven said he and Marissa decided to feed cereal to the infant because she did not seem to be getting enough from just the formula. They had been adding cereal to the bottle for approximately two weeks, he said. Steven said the nipple hole had been enlarged to get the cereal out of the bottle. He did not see it, but he believed Marissa made the hole in the nipple larger.
A Northwest Indiana Forensic Center pathologist found the child’s cause of death was “aspiration of food and unsafe sleeping,” according to court documents.
Marissa was arrested Dec. 30, 2017, for neglect of a dependent and has since bonded out.
Marissa, 21, of Warsaw, is represented by attorney Dana Leon.
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