EVANSVILLE — An Evansville woman was arrested and charged with felony neglect of a dependent resulting in death after her three-year-old son drowned in a swimming pool on Saturday afternoon.
Police were dispatched around 4:30 p.m. to a residential home on North Second Avenue following reports of an unresponsive child. Upon arrival, officers learned that witnesses had spotted the toddler floating face-down in the pool, pulled him from the water, and immediately began performing CPR.
Emergency responders transported the boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to investigators, the child’s mother, 41-year-old Amie Jo Farber, had been consuming alcohol while her son was near the pool. The homeowner told police that Farber had been warned to watch her child and had reportedly consumed approximately five 25-ounce beers over a two-hour span.
When the boy was found in the water, Farber was found passed out asleep in a patio chair nearby.
At the hospital, Farber allegedly told law enforcement officers that she “must have fallen asleep” and admitted responsibility for the incident. Police subsequently obtained a search warrant to perform blood testing for alcohol and controlled substances.
Court records indicate this is not Farber’s first interaction with law enforcement involving child safety; she was previously arrested in 2023 on neglect charges after a relative found her intoxicated while caring for an infant.
Farber was booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail, where she is currently being held on a $25,000 cash bond. An initial court hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.
