In Indiana, a 27-year-old woman who was already on probation for the neglect-related death of her 6-month-old daughter in 2019 was arrested once more for allegedly abandoning her four young children at home for more than two weeks.
According to documents, Tenisha Ann Echols was arrested on Monday and charged with several new counts of child neglect.
A probable cause affidavit states that at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, officers were sent to an apartment complex on Troy Avenue in response to a call from Echols’ mother, who said that her 8-year-old granddaughter had called with unsettling information.
The girl was crying because she had hardly seen her mother in the previous two weeks and had been left at home by herself with her three younger brothers, ages six, two, and four months.
The children’s beds were bare mattresses, the door was unlocked, there was trash and partially eaten food “all over the floor,” and it seemed like “an adult hadn’t been around in days,” according to the police when they arrived at the address.
Echols usually leaves her alone to look after the other kids, including the baby, the 8-year-old told authorities. According to the affidavit, the youngster made multiple attempts to reach her mother, but Echols did not pick up.
After arriving at the apartment at around 10 p.m., Echols told police she had merely gone out for a short while to “get medicine for one of the kids.” After being informed of her Miranda rights and placed in handcuffs, she consented to talk to detectives.
According to reports, Echols said, “About 20 minutes,” when asked how long she had been gone. According to the information given by the grandmother and the 8-year-old child, the police observed that the “time itself didn’t make sense.”
Echols reportedly acknowledged that she had been out all day when her daughter’s accusations were brought up, and that she frequently “leaves her kids home alone with the 8-year-old at times because she doesn’t feel like dragging them all out of the house at once.”
According to authorities, Echols “gave no reply” when asked if she believed it was safe to leave an 8-year-old in charge of a 4-month-old.
Echols also told police that she did not want to quarrel with her family over “her sexuality,” therefore they prohibited her from phoning most of them.
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After being taken from the home, the kids were sent to their grandmother.
Echols was still on probation at the time of her arrest for the severe blunt force injuries that killed her infant daughter De’Reya in December 2019.
According to an autopsy, the baby had several fractures to her head, a big burn on her arm, and fractures to her ribs and tibia. It was determined that De’Reya was murdered.
In July 2023, Echols entered a guilty plea to one count of neglecting a dependant that caused substantial physical harm. Judge Jennifer Harrison issued a moderate sentence that included two years of home detention, two years of probation, and no jail time—a contentious ruling that deviated from the prosecution’s recommendation.
A judge has ordered that Echols be detained in pretrial jail without bond until her next court appearance on July 8 since the most recent negligence accusations against her breached her probation.
