Baby Avarice Alexander, 9 months, died after her parents left her alone in her crib for 16 hours.
Adam and Jasmyne Alexander, both 21 years old, were up drinking on Saturday night and left Avarice unattended. According to NY Daily News , the baby was tucked in bed at 8:30 pm on Saturday night, and her parents checked up on her again at 12:30 pm on Sunday, leaving the baby by herself for 16 hours . When they checked on her on Sunday, she was not breathing.
According to police reports, Avarice was put to sleep on her stomach. Jasmyne got home from work, had drinks with her husband, and then went to bed without checking on Avarice. Emergency responders pronounced the baby dead at around 1:00 pm on Sunday.
The Daily Mail UK reports that detectives found out that Avarice had not been brought to see a doctor for seven months despite her parents noticing that she was having breathing problems a month before she died.
Just hours after Avarice died, her aunt set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for her funeral. According to her aunt, the fundraising page was put up in order to give her niece a proper burial ceremony.
“I have not been contacted by anyone to tell me what happened to my Niece. Adam & Jasmyne asked me after I set up the fund if I could add that any remaining money would be donated to SIDS research. I do plan on working with the funeral home & paying them every cent for a beautiful ceremony! Even if the baby did not pass from SIDS I will still donate the remaining fund money because that is what I stated I would do. Please do not criticize me I have all the right intentions & I loved my niece dearly :'(“
SIDS , or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, is the unexplained death of an infant that does not have anything to do with medical history. It typically happens while an infant is sleeping.
Avarice’s aunt also said that Adam and Jasmyne do not have access to the online donations raised from the fundraising campaign.
Both Adam and Jasmyne have been charged with neglect a few days after Avarice’s death. They are being held on a $10,000 secured bond. The young couple also has a 2-year-old daughter who is now being cared for by their relatives.
[Images via GoFundMe/The Daily Mail UK]