A Georgia mother has been charged with murder when her toddler daughter died after being pulled from a pond in an office park.
Sandy Springs police put out an alert for 22-month-old Nirvana Oliver Thursday night after they were called to a parking deck at the office park for a woman acting oddly.
Sgt. Matt McGuinnis told reporters that the woman, identified as Asia Calabrese-Lewis, was having “some type of breakdown,” WSB reported.
“They live in the area, the father showed up … found her there with us and asked where the child is,” McGuinnis said, according to WAGA. “She responded with something like, ‘she’s in the bottom of the pool.’ We don’t think it’s an accidental at this time.”
Police and firefighters rushed off to search the pond and found the little girl hours later. She was taken to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where she died.
Lewis was arrested and charged with murder and cruelty to children.
An arrest warrant says that security video shows Lewis walking the little girl toward the pond, one of several in the office complex, then going off camera for six minutes before Calabrese-Lewis calmly walking back into the frame with no clothes on.
The Georgia Division of Family and Children’s Services told WXIA that they had gotten “a report alleging suspected abuse/neglect of Nirvana” on Wednesday evening and had attempted a home visit earlier in the day on Thursday. They provided a statement calling the loss “devastating” but no further information about their investigation.
McGuinnis said the medical examiner has not yet determined how the girl died, WSB said.
“Whether it’s an actual drowning or something else, we will have to wait on that from the ME to determine exactly what went on there,” McGuiniss said.
Family members told the station Nirvana was well loved and well taken care of, including by her mother.
“This is beyond what anyone ever thought to imagine,” Kianah Nicole Cardona said. “Mental health is a deadly sniper that crept up on us in the most tragic way.”
Lewis had been expected to appear in court Thursday morning, but the appearance was postponed. She is being held without bond.
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[Featured image: Asia Calabrese-Lewis/Fulton County Sheriff’s Office]
