Day care provider charged 2 years after 6-month-old died from head injury, IN cops say
A two-year investigation into the death of a 6-month-old has led to the arrest of the baby’s day care provider, Indiana police say.
Brittany Baylor, 35, of Jeffersonville, was arrested June 4 on charges of aggravated battery resulting in death, and neglect of a dependent resulting in death, according to a June 5 Facebook post from Indiana State Police.
McClatchy News reached out to Baylor’s attorney for comment June 6 but did not immediately hear back.
In July 2022, officers from the Jeffersonville Police Department responded to a call about an unresponsive 6-month-old at Baylor’s home where she provided child care, according to police.
The child was taken to a local hospital where he died later that day, prompting an investigation led by Indiana State Police, authorities said.
Baylor told investigators that a Jeffersonville officer dropped the baby while attempting to perform CPR, WLKY reported.
Body camera footage confirmed Baylor’s statement, but according to the doctor who performed the child’s autopsy, “there was absolutely no possible way” that the fall he observed on the body camera could have produced the injuries he observed on the baby, WDRB reported citing court records.
An autopsy conducted by the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office revealed the child died from “a closed head injury sustained in an assault,” police said.
The force required to cause the types of injuries revealed by the autopsy would be “akin to falling out the second-story window,” WHAS reported, citing court records.
Baylor’s attorney said there was no evidence directly linking the child’s injuries to his client, and that the only documented injury came after she called 911, according to WHAS and WLKY.
Police said the investigation was handed over to the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office in September 2022.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Hulls attributed the length of the investigation to the county prosecutor building a case and gathering “as much information” as possible, WHAS reported.
Baylor’s bond is set at $1 million, according to court records.
A jury trial is scheduled for October, court records show.
Jeffersonville is in southern Indiana on the border with Kentucky. It is about a 4-mile drive northeast from Louisville.
