Inset: Nicole M. Laber (Collier County Jail). Background: The area in Florida where Laber lived when her infant daughter drowned (Google Maps).
A 31-year-old mother from Florida is sentenced to ten years in prison for leaving her 8-month-old daughter to drown unattended in the bath, then falsely claiming the child had drowned in the dog’s water bowl.
According to court records reviewed by Law&Crime, Collier County Circuit Judge John McGowan sentenced Nicole Laber on Tuesday to 10 years in prison for her involvement in her infant’s death. After her prison term, Laber will serve another 10 years on probation.
The sentence followed Laber’s guilty plea to one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Judge McGowan acknowledged Laber’s 669 days of time served.
A probable cause affidavit notes that deputies responded to Laber’s home on the 1300 block of Everglades Boulevard in Naples, Florida, around 7:40 a.m. on June 17, 2023, after she called 911, stating her infant “had drown in her dog’s water bowl.” First responders who arrived shortly thereafter performed life-saving measures before taking the child to Naples Community Hospital. Resuscitation efforts led police to observe that the child “expelled” water.
The baby was pronounced dead by ER doctors at 8:28 a.m., police said.
Initially, Laber informed investigators she was taking care of the victim when the dog and another child “escaped” the house. She claimed to have gone after them, thereby leaving the infant alone.
The affidavit detailed, “The defendant stated to deputies it took her about 2 to 3 minutes to bring the dog and her [child] back into the house. Upon returning, she found the child victim slumped over, face down, in the dog’s water bowl, which was located inside the house near the front door. The defendant promptly pulled the child from the water, dialed 911, and began CPR.”
At the hospital, Laber repeated her claim that after chasing down her dog and child, she returned home and “found the baby face down in the dog’s water bowl.” The bowl was 10 inches wide at the top and 5 inches deep.
An officer at the hospital observed that the baby was wearing “a clean, dry diaper” and she had a “fresh linear mark on her right thigh” that appeared to resemble a strap or belt.
At the home, investigators said they noted that the surface of the bathtub “appeared wet and there was fecal matter near the drain.” In the bathroom was also a small booster seat for an infant to sit in the bathtub.
Police said Laber’s husband confronted her about the story she was telling police, believing she was lying. Two days after the child’s death, Laber contacted police and provided a revised statement in which she admitted to putting her daughter in the booster seat in the tub, then leaving the infant unattended to use the toilet in the other bathroom, “citing her need for alone time.” Laber returned about 10 minutes later to a grisly scene.
“She found the child victim face-down in the water in the bathtub. The child victim remained strapped in the blue booster seat and had seemingly tipped over, with her head positioned towards the drain,” the affidavit said.
Laber took the baby out of the bathtub, removed her from the booster seat, and “placed the seat back in its usual location against the wall.” She then dressed her deceased infant in a fresh diaper.
“Finally, the defendant placed the child victim on the couch and called 911, informing the operator that the child victim had drowned in the dog’s water bowl,” police wrote. “This was the only water source that the defendant could think of at that time.”
