Woman Charged With Neglect Of A Dependent After Infant Found Unresponsive
WARSAW — Marissa Jean Moore, 4330 N. Old Road 15, Warsaw, has been preliminarily charged with neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony, after her infant child was found unresponsive.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, an officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department responded to a call for an unresponsive infant at Moore’s address on Oct. 30. Medical personnel provided medical attention to the infant, transporting the child to Kosciusko Community Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The affidavit states that Moore advised officers that she and a male subject were sleeping in the same bed as the infant when they woke to find her unresponsive. In the bed, officers found a bottle with a nipple that appeared to have been cut to make it bigger. The bottle contained formula mixed with cereal, noted to be a thick paste.
The affidavit states that Child Protective Services spoke with Moore, who advised the infant sleeps with her as the bed is big enough for the infant to have her own sleeping area. According to the affidavit, Moore broke down the night as follows: Moore went to sleep around midnight and the infant was lying on her back with a pacifier. Around 4 a.m. the infant wanted a bottle so Moore provided one to her and laid the infant back down. The male subject came home and went to sleep. Sometime between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. the infant wanted another bottle. Moore provided another bottle, burped the infant and laid her back down. Later that morning Moore’s other daughter called Moore out of the room. The male subject then woke up and found the infant cold and unresponsive.
According to the affidavit, Moore further told CPS that she uses cereal to thicken the formula because the nipple had been torn with a cleaning brush. Moore advised that nipples were expensive and she was unable to purchase a new one. The cereal keeps the formula from pouring out easily. She advised she had started putting the cereal into the bottle last week and would not have had the nipple not been torn. Moore advised she had never been told by a doctor to mix cereal with the formula.
When CPS spoke to the male subject he confirmed that he came home around 5:30 a.m. and went to bed. He woke up to Moore feeding and burping the infant. When he woke up, he found the infant to be white, cold to the touch and unresponsive. The affidavit states he yelled to Moore to call 911 and started CPR.
The male advised CPS that Moore and he had made the decision to feed the infant cereal because “she did not seem to be getting enough from just formula.” He stated they had been feeding cereal for about two weeks and the nipple hole had been enlarged to allow the cereal out of the bottle. The affidavit states that the male did not see it, but believes Moore had made the hole larger.
An autopsy on the infant found cause of death to be aspiration of food and unsafe sleeping, finding the death to be caused by excess food/formula in the airway.
The affidavit notes that the infant was seen for routine examination on Oct. 17 and it was noted to feed the child six ounces of formula every three hours.
Moore was booked into the Kosciusko County Jail on Jan. 1 with a $5,250 surety and cash bond.