WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - A Winter Haven mother has been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of her eight-month-old baby, who was left unattended for nearly five hours, deputies say.
Polk County Sheriff's deputies arrested Jada LeBoeuf, 19, Thursday.
Deputies say the woman left the home around 12:45 a.m. February 13 and went to a hookah bar in Orlando and then stopped at a McDonald's in Kissimmee. The baby was left asleep on the couch because the woman didn't want to awaken anyone else in the home, she told detectives. LeBoeuf lived with her mother, aunt, and maternal grandparents.
According to detectives, LeBoeuf failed to tell family members she was leaving and didn't ask family members to check on the baby.
When LeBoeuf arrived home around 5:30 a.m., she found the baby on the couch, tangled in the blanket, and unresponsive. "This terrible tragedy was 100% preventable. It is beyond comprehension how a mother could leave her child alone for five hours. That beautiful little baby girl should be alive today," said Sheriff Grady Judd.
An autopsy revealed the baby's death was caused by suffocation.