COLUMBUS — A five-month investigation into the death of a 7-month-old girl has culminated in the arrest of a Columbus couple on multiple felony neglect charges.
According to the Columbus Police Department, the investigation began on the morning of January 29, 2026, when emergency responders were called to a home in the 1600 block of 18th Street. The parents reported finding their infant daughter not breathing. Arriving police officers took over CPR efforts until medics arrived, but the child was tragically pronounced dead after being rushed to Columbus Regional Hospital.
Following an extensive joint investigation by Columbus Police detectives, the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office, and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office, formal warrants were issued, and the parents were detained.
Court documents and the Bartholomew County Coroner’s report paint a harrowing picture of the circumstances leading up to the infant’s death, revealing that the victim was one of premature triplets.
The coroner ruled the 7-month-old’s death as accidental, citing asphyxia in the setting of an unsafe sleep environment due to neck compression by a feeding tube.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the mother, Suzie Budd, called 911 after returning home from an overnight shift, stating that the infant’s nasogastric (NG) feeding tube had become wrapped around her neck after the child rolled over.
Investigators learned that the father, Douglas Budd, was aware that the child had begun rolling over. He reportedly admitted to police that the feeding tube had wound around the baby’s neck during a prior incident, telling detectives he had freed her that time but feared that “the next time… we’re not going to catch it in time.”
The affidavit further notes that the parents had been explicitly trained on safe sleep protocols by medical professionals, which included instructions to place each infant alone on their back in a separate crib free of loose items.
Instead, investigators allege that the parents routinely left feeding syringes heavily taped and attached to the tubes unsupervised. On the morning of the tragedy, Douglas Budd allegedly fed the infants at 5:00 a.m. and went upstairs to sleep, leaving the triplets downstairs unattended for nearly two hours.
The felony charges against the couple extend beyond the deceased infant to the treatment of their two surviving triplet brothers. Court records indicate the family has seven children under the age of seven.
When detectives processed the home, they discovered deplorable living conditions in the infants’ bedroom, including:
The surviving boys were found in a crib soaked in urine, with urine leaking from their diapers. The crib was cluttered with large blankets, stuffed animals, paper, and purple feeding plungers.
The remaining two triplets also had NG tubes secured to their faces with black and opaque tape. The tubing was found dangerously wrapped around the neck of one boy and around the wrists of both children.
The home was littered with prepared food left decaying on plates, empty bottles, and dog feces and urine throughout the room.
The findings were referred to the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office, resulting in major felony filings in Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Douglas Budd, 54, faces three felony counts of neglect of a dependent, including one count resulting in bodily injury. He was primarily responsible for watching the children during the day while unemployed and disabled.
Suzie Budd, 28, faces two felony counts of neglect of a dependent stemming from the conditions of the surviving brothers. She is employed as a registered nurse aide and qualified medical aide.
Both suspects remain held in the Bartholomew County Jail.
