Three Indiana children were hospitalized this week after their babysitter allegedly helped them snort drugs, WFIE-TV reports.
At 5:21 p.m. Wednesday, authorities in Evansville were dispatched to a residence in the 100 block of Althaus Avenue for a report of three children – ages 8, 9, and 15 – in need of medical attention.
The kids’ mother had just arrived and found them unconscious.
Medics revived the younger children, who stumbled and fell when attempting to get into an ambulance, while the 15-year-old remained unconscious at the scene but later awoke. One of the younger kids told a police officer that their babysitter, 24-year-old Deana Byrd, and given them pills.
Investigators found multiple orange pill capsules that appeared to be broken on a bedroom dresser. A white powder was found nearby, along with a “rolled-up Ramen noodle cup lid,” according to an affidavit filed in court by a detective and reviewed by CrimeOnline.
The mother of the children said she had not heard from Byrd all day and that when she arrived at the house, Byrd appeared to be impaired on the front porch and was “speaking very softly,” according to the affidavit.
The mother went into the home, did not hear anyone and ran upstairs. She found her 15-year-old daughter unresponsive and dialed 911. She found her other two kids on a couch downstairs; they responded slightly when the mother shook them.
A neighbor told police that Byrd had been sitting on the porch earlier in the day and was on the phone “yelling and threatening to kill someone,” the affidavit states.
After the 15-year-old regained consciousness at the hospital, she told investigators that Byrd offered her and her brothers drugs unprompted and without the children asking for them. The drugs are believed to be Klonopin, Adderall and Lyrica.
“She said Byrd showed her how to break open the orange pill capsules and make lines with them to snort. The 15-year-old said Byrd showed them how to snort pills using a rolled-up Ramen noodle cup lid. She said her and her brothers took about 3-4 of each of the three different pills Byrd had given them,” the affidavit reads.
“The 15-year-old said after the pills took effect, she and her brothers began falling over and could hardly stand up. She said she recalled seeing her brothers falling and that she recalled puking at one point and then coming out of the bathroom and falling again.”
Child welfare officials were reportedly familiar with Byrd and had previously removed her own children from her care.
In an interview with police, Byrd denied that she gave the kids she was babysitting any of the pills and said they must have taken them on their own.
Police searched the home and found a prescription bottle of Adderall and Klonopin. Police also found a bottle of Lyrica in Byrd’s purse that had orange capsules similar to the ones found at the residence, according to a press release from the Evansville Police Department.
Byrd faces charges of neglect resulting in serious bodily injury, dealing controlled substances, and theft. A judge set her bail at $20,000 and she is under court order to stay away from the kids she was babysitting, WFIE-TV reports.
Confronted by the mother, Byrd allegedly said she “wasn’t going to jail for no kids,” according to the affidavit.
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[Feature Photo: Deana Byrd/Evansville Police Department]
