Neglect of Dependent Arrest 100 blk Althaus Ave.

 On June 28th, around 5:20 p.m., Evansville Police Officers were dispatched to a residence in the 100 block of Althaus Ave. in reference to a medical emergency. The reporter told arriving officers that she arrived at the babysitter’s house and found her three children unconscious inside the house. 

The officers entered the residence and began to render aid to the children, ages 8, 9, and 15-years old, until AMR arrived. The younger children regained consciousness while they were still at the residence but were stumbling and falling down. While officers were inside the residence attending to the victims, they observed orange pill capsules, which were broken in half, with powdery substance on the upstairs bedroom dresser. This is where the 15-year-old had been located unconscious. 

All three children were transported to a local hospital for further treatment. Once at the hospital, the 15-year-old did regain consciousness. 

The children told detectives that their babysitter, Deana Byrd, gave them pills. Byrd also showed them how to break the pills open and snort them. The children also told detectives that they each ingested about 3-4 pills each of the three different types of pills. 

The reporter told officers that she dropped her three children off at Byrd’s residence around 10:30 p.m. on June 27th so they could stay the night with Byrd. Byrd was supposed to watch them until she got off work around 5:00 p.m. on June 28th. The reporter said when she arrived at Byrd’s house to pick up the children, Byrd was sitting on her porch and seemed impaired. She walked in the house and started yelling for her children. None of them responded and she got nervous. She ran through the house and found all three of her children unresponsive and called 911. 

Detectives secured a judicially signed Search Warrant for Byrd’s residence. They located a 

prescription pill bottle for Adderall on the dresser next to the orange pill capsule with the powdery substance. A prescription pill bottle for Klonopin and another prescription bottle for Lyrica were also located. The Lyrica pill bottle contained the same orange pill capsules that were observed on the dresser. Three loose Klonopin pills were found in Byrd’s coin purse. 

Adderall is a Schedule II controlled substance, Klonopin is a Schedule IV controlled substance, and Lyrica is a Schedule V controlled substance. These prescription pill bottles were found to belong to other individuals who were not at the residence and Byrd did not have permission to have them. 

Byrd told detectives that she did not know what had happened to the children, but did admit that it was possible that they got into some of her pills. While speaking with detectives, Byrd was lethargic, spoke softly and slowly, and slurred her speech. She appeared to be impaired. Detectives were granted a judicially signed search warrant for a sample of Byrd’s blood. She was transported to a local hospital for a blood draw and jail clearance before she was transported to the Vanderburgh County Confinement Center. 

Byrd’s charges include three counts of Neglect of a Dependent resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, Dealing a Schedule I/II/III Controlled Substance, Dealing a Schedule IV Substance, Dealing a Schedule V Controlled Substance, and two counts of Theft.