MITCHELL – The following story contains graphic content.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam Arp has released more information on the arrest of 33-year-old Brittany Medina involving the death of her two small children.
Medina was arrested for the deaths of her one-year-old daughter Maddy, and three-year-old son Jackson in Mitchell on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, at 4:00 p.m. Medina walked into the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and reported she had just killed her children. She told police she drowned them in the bathroom. Medina was read her Miranda rights and was detained. She then gave Detective Ramos the key to her home.
Mitchell Police Chief Troy Lobosky and his officers entered the home with Lawernce County Detective Michael Ramos. Lobosky said Mitchell Officer Steven Britten had to force open the hallway bathroom, which was locked, and nothing was in there.
Mitchell Officer Britten and Detective Ramos then proceeded to a bathroom located adjacent to the master bedroom where they located the children deceased in the bathroom. The Lawrence County Coroner’s Office was contacted. Officers then filed for a search warrant for the home and for the person of Brittany Medina.
At 4:25 p.m. crime tape was placed around the yard and home with officers posted to make sure the scene was secure.
At 4:50 p.m. Indiana State Police Detective Timothy Cummins was contacted.
At 5:02 p.m. ISP Sgt. Chris Fearsby ISP confirmed the children were found dead in a residence at 1211 West Brook Street.
At 6:06 p.m. ISP Detective Cummins arrived on the scene and met with Mitchell Police Chief Troy Lobosky.
At 6:36 p.m. Senior Trooper Kent Rohlfing and ISP Detective Cummins met with Detective Jim Slone and Medina at the Sheriff’s Department. Medina was again read her Miranda rights and was interviewed.
She told police she lived at 1211 West Brook Street in Mitchell and lived with her boyfriend Ryan Shelton and 1-year-old Maddy and 3-year-old Jackson.
Medina told police on Monday, September 25th she had consumed a half gram of Xanax, a Suboxone strip, and snorted three lines of cocaine.
On Tuesday, September 26, her boyfriend awakened to go to work and woke her up at 6:30 a.m. Medina indicated she made breakfast and put on a cartoon for the kids to watch. At approximately 2:30 p.m., she told police she heard voices in her head indicating that she needed to send her children to Heaven that day or someone would come and place her and her children in a dark hole.
Medina told police the voices indicated that people would torture all three until the end of their lives if she didn’t send the children to Heaven that day.
Medina indicated she then went into the bathroom closest to the master bedroom and began to fill the bathtub with water. Medina told police she knew she was going to drown her children to send them to Heaven. Medina told police she took both children into the bathroom and placed one on each side of her in the bathtub. She told them she loved them, gave them kisses, and submerged both children simultaneously under the water by holding them around the neck until Jackson no longer had a pulse and both quit moving.
Medina said, “I ended up drowning them.”
Medina admitted the intention of filling up the bathtub was to drown her children and send them to Heaven. She indicated yes when asked if she knew holding both children underwater would kill them.
She then exited the bathtub and went into her bedroom to put on dry clothes. She then returned to the bathroom and said “The water was completely still and Jackson and Maddy were lying in the bathtub not moving.”
Medina indicated she then got into her vehicle and drove to the Sherriff’s Department.
Police searched the home at 7:00 p.m.
In the master bathroom police found the bodies of Maddy and Jackson lying in the tub. Jackson was naked on his back and Maddy was in a flowered onesie face down in the tub.
At 10:37 p.m. Indiana State Police CSI concluded residential processing. The bodies of the children were taken by Lawerence County Coroner’s office.
Medina faces two counts of murder and two counts of child neglect causing death and is being held in the Lawrence County Jail without bond.
