An Indiana mother already on probation over the 2019 death of her 6-month-old daughter has been arrested again for leaving four children unattended for about two weeks.
Tenisha Ann Echols, 27, was hit with new counts of child neglect after her crying 8-year-old daughter called her grandmother seeking help Monday evening.
The girl told Echols’ mother that her mom left her and her three siblings, ages 6, 2, and 4 months old, alone for the last two weeks.
The grandmother called the police to the home at around 9:15 p.m. Sunday. Officers found partially-eaten food and trash “all over the floor,” and it was clear “an adult hadn’t been around in days.”
The girl told police her mother often leaves her alone to care for her siblings and wouldn’t answer her calls.
Police called Echols, and she showed up, telling cops she was outside for just 20 minutes to “get medicine for one of the kids.”
When confronted with the girl’s claims, the mother admitted she had been out all day and “leaves her kids home alone with the 8-year-old at times because she doesn’t feel like dragging them all out of the house at once.”
Echols pleaded guilty in 2023 to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and was sentenced to two years of home detention followed by two years of probation.
