In early January, police were summoned to a Bartlesville apartment in response to a call about a dead infant. When they arrived, they found that a 3-month-old baby girl had died. The infant's mother, Brittany Cherokee Dawn Bell, 27, told police that she had placed the baby in a crib to nap, but when she returned to check on her, the child had stopped breathing.
Upon further questioning, police say, the mother changed her story. They say she admitted to placing the child on the floor while she fell asleep as her 18-month-old twins watched a movie. She said that she was afraid that one or both of the twins had killed their little sister by sitting on her and suffocating her.
Now, the investigation into the baby's death has led Washington County prosecutors to charge the mother with child neglect. They say they were unable to file child abuse murder charges against the mother, because the cause of the child's death could not be determined. A medical examiner ruled the cause of death "sudden unexplained infant death with the manner of death undetermined," according to a report in the Tulsa World. But while the Medical Examiner's Office could not determine the manner of death, one thing they discovered indicated horrific neglect.
They say that tiny abrasions found on the baby's body were caused by roach bites.
Bartlesville police investigator Jim Warring stated in an affidavit, "Based on Bell’s own statements, I can conclude that she laid the baby on the floor and fell asleep without waking during which time Alice may have been suffocated by one or both of her twins or became distressed due to the surface of the floor and suffocated. Also enough time passed that roaches were able to start feeding on both the baby’s legs and head. All of this took place less than 10 feet from the couch where Bell was reportedly sleeping.”
Whether the baby's death was caused by SIDS, accidental suffocation by her toddler siblings, improper bedding, or other cause, the fact that the infant lay on the floor long enough to be bitten repeatedly by roaches is concerning, to say the least.
Bell has now been charged in Washington County with child neglect. Prosecutors say that, in addition to the conditions under which the infant and toddlers were found, further evidence of neglect comes from a New Year's Eve phone call from a neighbor, who was concerned that the three babies had been left unattended. Bell showed up at the home approximately five minutes after police arrived, saying she had only been gone a short time and acting like "it was not a big deal."
The infant died about a week later.
In Oklahoma, child neglect is a felony offense, punishable by a maximum of life in prison.
