According to the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, an Indiana mother fed her two children, ages 2 and 4, once a day before leaving them alone in a home all to themselves. One of them, a 2-year-old girl, died, and the mother is now in jail.
Chantell Gardner, 33, is facing a charge of child neglect resulting in death. She is currently being held without bond at the Marion County Jail. Law&Crime obtained a probable cause arrest affidavit, which described the girl’s death.
Gardner called 911 at 6:30 p.m. after discovering the girl, identified by CW affiliate WISH as Skyler Gardner, unresponsive and “cold to the touch” under a bedroom dresser, according to the affidavit.
Gardner told police she came to the apartment to feed her children, and while her son approached her, Skyler did not. That is what led to the grim discovery. She stated that she grabbed her son and ran outside to call 911.
Paramedics arrived at the house and pronounced Skylar dead. The affidavit stated that she had been deceased for some time due to rigor mortis. The girl had bruises on her face, arms, legs, and back, as well as a “large puncture wound” in her neck.
Police walked through the house and “observed trash scattered, human feces, steak knives, and soiled items on the floor to the point it was not visible,” according to the affidavit. They also discovered feces on the walls and rotting food throughout.
Post-Miranda, Gardner claimed she “knew she neglected” her daughter. She claimed that it was normal for her to leave her two children alone for hours at a time, only returning to feed them once a day.
Gardner claimed she hadn’t bathed one of her children in nearly two weeks and would frequently find them with feces on their hands and feet.
She insisted that, despite neglecting Skyler, she had never physically or sexually abused her, according to the affidavit.
Gardner’s boyfriend confirmed her account. He claimed she spent every night at his house and almost never had the children with her. They saw her “once a week at most,” he told police.
Officers then arrested Gardner and transported her to the Marion County Jail, where she remains.