Background: A section of South Bancroft Street in Indianapolis, Ind. (Google Maps). Inset: Nasha Williams (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department).
An Indiana mother is facing criminal charges after authorities say she left her infant unattended on a couch for more than an hour while she drank and talked with neighbors, a sequence of events prosecutors allege ended in the baby’s death.
Nasha Williams, 28, has been charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and neglect of a dependent, according to Marion County court records reviewed by Law&Crime. She remains in the Marion County Jail, where she is being held without bond.
The child who died was identified by local Fox affiliate WXIN as 7-month-old Syncere Williams.
The incident unfolded March 30 at Williams’ home on South Bancroft Street in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to authorities, Williams had five children with her that day, including Syncere and his twin, and took them all along when she went to a nearby Kroger grocery store to buy milk.
Williams allegedly told investigators the store did not have milk, so the family returned home, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. After cleaning for a short time, she went to Walmart around 2:30 p.m. and later came back to the residence.
Once home, Williams allegedly “propped” one twin on a small couch and placed Syncere “on the other end of the couch.” While the infant drank from a bottle, Williams said she went to prepare dinner and speak with a neighbor.
At some point afterward, the baby was found “not awake and not breathing,” authorities said.
The timeline shared by Williams was hazy, police said. At first, she said “she was outside for less than 5 minutes,” but later, she admitted “it was possible it was closer to an hour and a half because she got ‘wrapped up’ being outside with her neighbors,” per the court document.
A neighbor reportedly noticed Syncere “was not breathing,” and he and his twin were still on the couch with no other adults at the home. She told Williams to call 911 and then called the defendant’s mother. The neighbor said Williams “smelled of Liquor and her speech appeared to be slurred.”
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Officers with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrived at the home to find Syncere “in the arms of the mother,” Williams. The officer asked Williams “if that was the child, to which she did not respond.”
Syncere was brought to a nearby children’s hospital, where he was “listed in critical condition.” Williams said he had “no medical issues” and that she had set the child down and “went upstairs to fold laundry.”
The boy was taken off life support on April 22 after doctors determined that “due to his brain damage he had very little hope of meaningful recovery.” An autopsy conducted on his body said he died of an “[u]nexplained sudden death” with “extrinsic factors identified,” and no manner of death was concluded.
When an officer interviewed Williams and asked her to use a “reenactment doll” to show what she remembered, Williams displayed how Syncere “would take a cover/blanket and roll on his side to stay warm.” She said that when she and her neighbor found the boy, he was “rolled on his left side,” not moving, “and the blanket was around his face.”
He was also “between the pillow and couch cushion.”
The defendant admitted she “had some alcohol tonight but denied being intoxicated” and denied using drugs, police said. However, when told that her neighbor as well as officers said she was intoxicated, Williams allegedly replied, “you could say that” and conceded she had drunk about a half pint of Jose Cuervo tequila.
Williams had been “chilling and drinking with her neighbors” as Syncere lay on the couch inside, she said, according to the court document.
The following day, authorities took a blood test from Williams and said they learned she had a 0.159% blood alcohol concentration. Investigators also reviewed GPS data, determining that “Williams was primarily located outside of her residence” from 4 p.m. on March 30 until the 911 call at 6:45 p.m.
The probable cause affidavit adds: “Very few data points put her inside her home during that time.”
Williams was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Marion County Jail. She is scheduled to have an initial hearing in court on Tuesday.
The post Woman left 7-month-old son on couch for hours because she was ‘wrapped up’ with neighbors — until she found him ‘between the pillow and couch cushion’: Cops first appeared on Law & Crime.
