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Last updated on Wednesday, February 8, 2017
(HUNTINGBURG) - A 26-year-old Huntingburg woman has pled not guilty to a charge of a dependent causing death. The death has been ruled accidental.
Police arrested Rachelle Childree on February 2 on charges stems from the death of a 2.5 month-old girl in her care last November.
Her bond was set at $1,000 cash and she is scheduled for a pretrial on March 6 at 10:30 a.m.
On the afternoon of November 29, police were called to 217 N. Arjem after a report of an unresponsive child.
When Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services and Huntingburg First Responders arrived at the apartment they found a two-and-a-half-month-old female infant dead.
Police say that Childree was watching the infant in her home along with two of her own children.
Court records indicate that Rachelle Childree told police she laid the infant down after the baby fell asleep while eating.
The infant was placed on a mattress covered with a thick comforter. Childree told police she covered the infant with a blanket and then went into another room with her children.
According to court documents, Childree told police she fell asleep, and when she woke, she went to check on the infant and found her laying on her stomach with the blanket over her face. The infant was unresponsive - Childree immediately called 911.
Emergency dispatch coached Childree through steps to perform CPR on the unresponsive child, but she was unable to perform the act.
An autopsy by Dr. James Jacobi ruled the infant's death was accidental and attributed to asphyxiation due to unsafe sleeping conditions due to the soft bedding under the infant's face in an adult bed.
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