Mother accused of abandoning baby as he died of Covid

Police and neighbours performed CPR after finding the three-month-old unresponsive but he later died in hospital of Covid complications to the lungs

Six agencies responded to the situation on Tuesday night (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

An Indianapolis mother is facing child neglect charges after her three-month-old son died of Covid when she allegedly left him in the care of a nine-year-old sibling.

Madelissa Flores, 26, from Marion County, was taken into custody last week after leaving her dying infant “alone in the dark house, screaming with no adults in sight”, according to a statement given to police by her neighbours.

She later told police she left her three children alone because she is a “single mom that is under a lot of stress and needed to talk to someone”, according to court papers obtained by The Indianapolis Star.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police arrived at the home for a welfare check on 28 November and found neighbours performing CPR on the infant.

A police officer then tried to revive the child, who was rushed to Riley Children’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy found the unidentified boy died of complications from Covid to the lungs, and also had two fractured leg bones.

Court documents obtained by The Star show law enforcement had visited the family home several times in the days leading up to the baby’s death.

During a visit hours before the baby died, officers found him “gasping for air”.

Specialist child abuse investigator Detective Daniel Henson, who visited the home the previous day, described the squalid conditions in court documents.

The house was without electricity, used diapers covered the floor and empty bottles of alcohol and antifreeze were found lying around.

The Indiana Department of Child Services had received complaints in 2020 and 2021 over similar reports of filthy conditions at the home.

Detective Henson said children who were victims of abuse commonly suffered leg fractures after having their limbs yanked.

The Independent has approached Indianapolis police for comment.

Ms Flores has been charged with two charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury and one charge of neglect of a dependent and is being held at the Marion County Jail.  

It was not immediately clear whether Ms Flores had legal representation.