Deana Nicole Byrd (Vanderburgh County Jail)
A mother of three in Indiana said she came home and found her three children unconscious after their 24-year-old babysitter had allegedly taught them “how to snort pills,” authorities said.
Deana Nicole Byrd was taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with three counts each of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, dealing a controlled substance with enhancing circumstances, and one count of theft, court documents reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause statement, officers with the Evansville Police Department and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to a home at about 5:21 p.m. on Wednesday in the 100 block of Althaus Avenue on a call regarding three children needing medical assistance. The caller said she just arrived at the babysitter’s home who was watching her children, 8, 9, and 15, and found them unconscious.
The children were hospitalized and have recovered.
Medics revived the two younger children. When they regained consciousness, both kids “were stumbling and falling when trying to get into the ambulance.” The 15-year-old was unconscious when she was put into an ambulance. One of the younger children allegedly told an officer Byrd, their babysitter, had given them some of her pills.
During a search of the home, authorities said they found several orange pill capsules that were broken in half on the bedroom dresser. Nearby was a white powdery substance and a “rolled-up Ramen noodle cup lid.”
The kids’ mother told police she had dropped them off at Byrd’s house at about 10:30 p.m. the previous night and told Byrd she’d be back to pick them up at about 5 p.m. the following day when she got off work. She said she didn’t hear from the kids or Byrd all day. When she arrived at the home, Byrd was alone on the front porch, seemingly “impaired” and “speaking very softly.”
The mother said she was nervous when she entered the home and did not hear the children. She then ran upstairs, where she found her 15-year-old daughter unresponsive in Byrd’s bedroom and called 911, the document states. Her other two kids were unconscious on the couch downstairs, only getting a slight response after shaking each of them, police said she told them.
Read Related Also: ‘An absolutely torturous death’: Florida parents allegedly left 18-month-old in car overnight after drug- and alcohol-fueled 4th of July party
When she confronted Byrd and told her that she’d called 911, Byrd allegedly said she “wasn’t going to jail for no kids.”
When the 15-year-old awoke at the hospital, she told police that Byrd had offered her and her brothers pills she believed were Klonopin, Adderall, and Lyrica. She said they never asked for the pills and that Byrd offered them up unprompted, officials said.
“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 states. “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.”
A child services worker told police the stories from the two younger brothers matched the 15-year-old’s account. The worker also noted that they were familiar with Byrd, as “DCS had previously removed all three of her children.”
When questioned by police, Byrd allegedly claimed the three children, one of whom she refers to as “a–hole,” must have gotten into her pills on their own, saying that she never gave them anything. She added that the children like to snoop when given free rein at her home. She also denied that either of the two young children was ever unconscious.
At Byrd’s home, investigators said they found a prescription pill bottle for Adderall and Klonopin. While she was being booked into the Vanderburgh County Jail, police said they found a half-filled prescription bottle for Lyrica in Byrd’s purse, which had orange capsules that matched the broken ones found at the home.
Byrd’s bond was $20,000, and she’s been ordered to have no contact with any of the three children.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
