Girl dies after bed wetting punishment
A three-year-old girl from Alaska has died and her younger sister suffered hypothermia after their mother and the mother's boyfriend left them in a locked bedroom with an open window where the temperature was minus 34 degrees Celsius.
The window was left open to air out the room because the girls had wet their beds.
The mother, 28-year-old elementary school teacher Esther G Edwards-Gust, and 29-year-old Richard Tilden Jr have been indicted in the child's death. Mr Tilden was in custody.
The couple shared a home with Ms Edwards-Gust's one and three-year-old daughters in the Inupiat Eskimo community of Barrow.
Police say the two girls last month were trapped overnight in their bedroom with a window open to temperatures that dropped to 34 degrees below zero. Both children were diagnosed with extreme hypothermia and flown to an Anchorage hospital, where the three-year-old died.
Mr Tilden later told authorities he'd been drinking the night before and opened the bedroom window to air out the room because the girls wet their beds, according to court documents. He also said the door's latch was broken, making it impossible for anyone inside the room to open it.
A grand jury on Friday indicted Mr Tilden and Ms Esther G Edwards-Gust on charges including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Mr Tilden also faces second-degree murder and assault charges. He was arrested last month.
A warrant has been issued for Ms Edwards-Gust's arrest. Police didn't immediately return a message Saturday, and a home listing for Barrow's police chief was disconnected. A person who answered the phone at the borough jail said Ms Edwards-Gust was not in custody there.
Mr Tilden called the emergency dispatcher when he discovered the three-year-old was unresponsive and not breathing on February 2.
Officers said Mr Tilden smelled of alcohol when they were at the apartment, court documents said. The news was first reported by the Anchorage Daily News.
Mr Tilden later said he bought two bottles of whiskey from a bootlegger and began drinking the night before the children were found in the bedroom with the open window and broken door latch, authorities said. Two empty bottles were found in the apartment.
Mr Tilden also told officers he opened the bedroom window because the girls wet their beds, and he did not close it before going to bed. In earlier interviews, Ms Edwards-Gust told officers the girls were sleeping in their beds when she went to work that morning.
