A Florida woman is accused of leaving a baby in her care alone in a bathtub, then lying about the cause of the child’s death from drowning, authorities said.
Nicole Marie Laber, 29, of Naples, was arrested Friday and charged with culpable negligence, aggravated manslaughter of a child, according to Collier County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
According to the sheriff’s office, Laber allegedly left a baby strapped to a booster seat in a bathtub on June 17 at about 7:40 a.m. EDT. Laber called the sheriff’s office to report the drowning but “staged the child’s death to make it appear as if it were an accident.”
The booster seat had tipped over, trapping the child in a few inches of water in the bathtub, WBBH-TV reported. Deputies attempted life-saving measures but the child was later pronounced dead at an area hospital, the sheriff’s office said.ry.
According to the sheriff’s office, Laber said she left the child inside the residence unattended while she went “to retrieve her dog and another young child” in her care after they allegedly went out of the front door of the residence.
When she returned, Laber told deputies she found the infant slumped face-down on the floor in the dog’s water bowl, WINK-TV reported. Investigators later determined that Laber allegedly took the child out of the bathtub, dressed the infant in a diaper and placed them in the water bowl, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office did not reveal the age or gender of the child, but WBBH reported that the baby was a girl and 8 months old. It was also unclear what Laber’s relationship was to the child.
“This is an absolute tragedy,” Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement. “But thanks to the dedication and skill of our detectives we now know what actually happened to this innocent baby and justice can be carried out.”
Laber remains in Collier County jail, online records show.
