A man and his wife from Florida are facing felony charges for “child neglect with great bodily harm” after their 3 month old baby died due to alleged neglect while another child of theirs tested positive for hard drugs.
Parents, Cheyanne Bury Schilling aged 24 and her partner Jonathan Lopez, 25, are now in the Columbia County Jail, with a bond of $25,000 as the penalty.
The investigation into the alleged crimes began on January 8, this year after the death of a child at the Lake City hospital according to the police warrant report released on Sunday, September 6.
The report reveals that a three-month-old toddler was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. It further stated that the mother, Bury Schilling, had to be transported to a hospital to emergency medical personnel after expressing suicidal thoughts .
According to The Sun, the signs and symptoms of drug abuse were reportedly so evident in the mother that she had to be sedated.
Bury Schilling was placed under “involuntary institutionalization for mental health examination” under Florida’s Baker Act.
The doctors reportedly claimed that she showed signs of illegal drug use, including “track marks and burns on her finger”
Further Reports suggested that when the detectives entered the house, they found another toddler whose face was bloodied. The warrants revealed that the child tested positive for hard drugs following a few tests. The cops said that the Department of Children and Families took hair follicle samples for the tests.
Investigators say the family lived in a trailer that was “very dirty and unfit for children”.
Addressing the duration it took to issue a warrant against the couple, investigators said the process was delayed as they were waiting for the autopsy reports of the three-month-old toddler who was found dead and the other child who was put into foster care.
This isn’t the first time a child has tested positive for narcotics or died from the presence of drugs due to its usage by the mother. A similar incident had occurred in Philadelphia a few months ago when a woman ended up killing her 11-week-old baby by allegedly transmitting drugs to the child through her breast milk.
