The parents of an 11-month-old baby girl were arrested Friday afternoon charged with aggravated manslaughter of their daughter.
Margaret Lehman, 23, mother of the baby, called 911 at about 3:30 a.m.Thursday and requested EMS help as her daughter did not appear to be breathing, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department
EMS personnel transported the baby girl to the emergency room at Leesburg Regional Medical Center where the baby was pronounced dead.
Police documented that the baby was covered in dirt and what appeared to be dried feces. Her body was covered by rashes and her thighs had open sores. Both her eyes and abdomen were sunken. Her body weighed 13 pounds and 4.4 ounces. The ER physician told the officers that the infant was extremely underweight and underdeveloped for her age.
Back at the couple’s Pine Street residence, officers told Lehman and the baby’s father, 26-year-old Mark Brittian, that their daughter had died and that the residence was going to be secured as it was a possible crime scene. The officers noted that the residence was filthy with an overwhelming odor of garbage and rotting food. They noted the home was extremely cluttered as if hoarders resided there.
When the parents were interviewed by the police, they indicated that the baby had been suffering a fever, but that they were able to feed her in the days before her death. Their version of the baby’s food intake was contradicted by the medical examiner’s report which stated that the infant had not eaten in at least two to three days and that the cause of her death was extreme malnutrition and starvation.
Both Brittian and Lehman were booked at the Lake County Jail on $50,000 bond each. Brittian was released after posting bond. Lehman remained at the jail Tuesday night.
