A former employee of Florida’s Department of Children and Families has been arrested after her 13-year-old daughter was found dead, “extremely emaciated and obviously malnourished” and “covered in wounds in all stages of healing.”
Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman said the girl was found nude except for a diaper when deputies arrived after her mother, 34-year-old Diane Natasha Mack, called for help early Friday morning.
Blackman said the girl also had “open lacerations that were clearly recently suffered.”
Mack initially told investigators she found her adopted daughter unresponsive Thursday morning, but police said it was probably mid-afternoon. She did not call 911 right away, however, and instead drove four other children who lived in the home to Titusville, 2 1/2 hours away, and returned before making the call.
Further investigation indicated the girl had been restrained in the home’s garage, secured to the garage door and monitored by a security camera.
“While her child lay dead on the floor, the suspect had clearly used pool chlorine in an effort to destroy evidence in the garage before calling 911,” Blackman said.
Blackman added that not only had Mack worked for DCF, but she had also served as a guardian ad litem.
That someone whose job it was to look after the welfare of children could treat their own child in this manner is simply beyond belief,” he said.
Mack has been charged with first degree murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping, and destroying evidence. She’s being held without bond.
