Aaliyah M. Lykins (Delaware County Jail)

A mother in Indiana is accused of killing her newborn baby after she fell asleep while breastfeeding and suffocated the child last year — the second time she has killed one of her children in such a manner in three years. Aaliyah M. Lykins was taken into custody last week and charged with one count of felony reckless homicide and one count of neglect of a dependent in the death of her daughter, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN, officers with the Muncie Police Department and emergency medical personnel with the Muncie Fire Department on Oct. 9, 2023, responded to a call regarding an infant suffering from cardiac arrest. Muncie is about 65 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

The caller — later identified as Lykins — allegedly told the emergency dispatcher that she laid down to breastfeed her newborn and had unwittingly fallen asleep. When she awoke, the child was unresponsive.

Upon arriving at the scene, first responders reportedly said they found the 2-week-old victim — who is not named in reports — inside of the residence and described the little girl as being “limp, with no signs of respiration.”