Four people in Louisiana have been arrested on child cruelty charges following the death of a 4-month-old baby girl.
According to a statement from the Winnfield Police Department, that was first published by the Winn Parish Journal and later reported on by KTVE/KARD, on the morning of Monday, December 19 Winnfield Fire & Rescue and Emergency Medical Services were called out to a property on Louisiana Street in Winnfield.
The emergency services were responding to a 911 call concerning an infant that was not breathing. Authorities say the child was subsequently taken to the nearby Winn Parish Medical Center but was pronounced dead by an attending physician.
Following an investigation into the cause of the child’s death by Winn Parish Coroner Dr. James Lee, it was determined the infant died as a result of “blunt force trauma to the head and body area.”
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An investigation by Winnfield City Police, with assistance from deputies at the Winn Parish Sheriff’s Office, resulted in several arrests.
These included three women and one man who were all arrested in connection with the child’s death. Jakeithra Starks, 26, Laquetta Thomas, 36, DeKarian Starks, 24 and Malia Snowden, 19, have all been charged with Second Degree Cruelty to a Juvenile.
The four suspects were booked into the Winnfield City Jail then transferred to the Winn Parish Detention Center awaiting bond hearings. No other information on the outcome of these hearings is available at this time.
Under Louisiana state law, Second Degree Cruelty to Juveniles refers to the “intentional or criminally negligent mistreatment or neglect by anyone over the age of seventeen to any child under the age of seventeen which causes serious bodily injury or neurological impairment to that child.”
Second Degree Cruelty to a Juvenile carries a maximum 40-year prison sentence for those found guilty of the most serious offenses under the law.
An 11-year-old juvenile was also arrested. Initial reports had indicated the juvenile is the infant child’s sibling, however, the Winn Parish Journal has since reported that this is not the case.
The juvenile, whose name cannot be released publicly for legal reasons, was previously in custody awaiting a judicial hearing that was scheduled for December 20.
The outcome of this hearing is not available according to the Winn Parish Journal and the juvenile is no longer in custody.
Newsweek has contacted the Winnfield Police Department for comment.
The child’s death came in the same week in which an unborn baby was killed in what South Carolina police described as a “senseless” shooting in the early hours of Tuesday, December 20.
