Mom Charged Following Death Of 2-Month-Old
January 4, 2018 at 5:58 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Marissa Jean Moore, 20, of 4330 N. Old 15, Warsaw, was arrested at 11:27 p.m. Saturday for neglect of a dependent with bond set at $5,250. Her jail booking information gave her address as 810 Charles St., Winona Lake.
According to court documents, on Oct. 30 a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer responded to a call of an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15. When the officer arrived, medical personnel were providing medical attention to the infant, whose father was identified as Steven Brown.
The child, Elena Lanae Moore, was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Brown and Moore told the officer they were sleeping in the same bed as the infant and woke up to find her unresponsive, according to court documents. Officers investigated the area where the girl was lying 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 Moore, who said she went to bed around midnight. The infant slept with her as the bed is large enough that she had her own sleeping area. The infant was lying on her back with a pacifier.
At about 4 a.m., the infant wanted a bottle and Moore gave her one and then laid back down. Brown then came home from work and went to bed. Moore then went back to sleep.
Sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., according to court documents, the infant wanted another bottle. Moore fed the child, burped her and laid her back down.
Later in the morning, Moore’s other daughter came into the room and woke her and Moore went to help the girl. Brown woke up and told Moore the infant was cold to the touch, looked white and was not breathing.
Court documents say Moore used cereal to thicken the formula because the nipple was torn. The cereal helped stop the formula from pouring out easily. Moore said the nipple was torn by a cleaning brush and nipples are expensive so she had not been able to buy a new one. Moore 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.
Moore said a doctor never told her to mix cereal with the formula, she just did it on her own.
Brown told the caseworker and the officer that he came home from work around 5:30 a.m. and went to bed. He woke up and Moore was feeding and burping the infant. He said went back to sleep, and when he woke up he looked at the infant and she appeared to be white and cold to the touch.
Brown yelled for someone to call 911 and started CPR on the infant, the court documents state.
Brown said he and Moore 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. Brown said the nipple hole had been enlarged to get the cereal out of the bottle. He did not see it, but he believed Moore made the hole in the nipple larger.
A Northwest Indiana Forensic Center pathologist found the cause of death was “aspiration of food and unsafe sleeping,” according to court documents. Anatomic finding for the death was excessive food/formula in the airway.
On Oct. 17, a doctor had conducted a routine examination of the baby with no abnormal findings, court documents state. The doctor’s instructions were to feed the infant 6 ounces of formula every three hours. The report did not recommend feeding the infant cereal.
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Marissa Jean Moore, 20, of 4330 N. Old 15, Warsaw, was arrested at 11:27 p.m. Saturday for neglect of a dependent with bond set at $5,250. Her jail booking information gave her address as 810 Charles St., Winona Lake.
According to court documents, on Oct. 30 a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officer responded to a call of an unresponsive infant at 4330 N. Old 15. When the officer arrived, medical personnel were providing medical attention to the infant, whose father was identified as Steven Brown.
The child, Elena Lanae Moore, was taken to Kosciusko Community Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Brown and Moore told the officer they were sleeping in the same bed as the infant and woke up to find her unresponsive, according to court documents. Officers investigated the area where the girl was lying 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 Moore, who said she went to bed around midnight. The infant slept with her as the bed is large enough that she had her own sleeping area. The infant was lying on her back with a pacifier.
At about 4 a.m., the infant wanted a bottle and Moore gave her one and then laid back down. Brown then came home from work and went to bed. Moore then went back to sleep.
Sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., according to court documents, the infant wanted another bottle. Moore fed the child, burped her and laid her back down.
Later in the morning, Moore’s other daughter came into the room and woke her and Moore went to help the girl. Brown woke up and told Moore the infant was cold to the touch, looked white and was not breathing.
Court documents say Moore used cereal to thicken the formula because the nipple was torn. The cereal helped stop the formula from pouring out easily. Moore said the nipple was torn by a cleaning brush and nipples are expensive so she had not been able to buy a new one. Moore 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.
Moore said a doctor never told her to mix cereal with the formula, she just did it on her own.
Brown told the caseworker and the officer that he came home from work around 5:30 a.m. and went to bed. He woke up and Moore was feeding and burping the infant. He said went back to sleep, and when he woke up he looked at the infant and she appeared to be white and cold to the touch.
Brown yelled for someone to call 911 and started CPR on the infant, the court documents state.
Brown said he and Moore 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. Brown said the nipple hole had been enlarged to get the cereal out of the bottle. He did not see it, but he believed Moore made the hole in the nipple larger.
A Northwest Indiana Forensic Center pathologist found the cause of death was “aspiration of food and unsafe sleeping,” according to court documents. Anatomic finding for the death was excessive food/formula in the airway.
On Oct. 17, a doctor had conducted a routine examination of the baby with no abnormal findings, court documents state. The doctor’s instructions were to feed the infant 6 ounces of formula every three hours. The report did not recommend feeding the infant cereal.
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