Arlene Truitt, 30, was charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of children as city police detectives allege in court records her apartment was found cluttered with clothes covered with feces, floors covered with cat litter, garbage and food crumbs and multiple cockroaches.
Police discovered the condition of the apartment on Jan. 29, 2024, when authorities and emergency medical technicians responded to a report of a 9-year-old girl who was unresponsive. The girl was pronounced dead inside the apartment.
Police discovered the condition of the apartment on Jan. 29, 2024, when authorities and emergency medical technicians responded to a report of a 9-year-old girl who was unresponsive. The girl was pronounced dead inside the apartment.
Two toddlers were also found living in the apartment that court records described as "in complete disarray and cluttered....and unreasonable for the three children."
Luzerne County Coroner Jill Matthews said the child's cause of death was fentanyl toxicity with the manner as undetermined.
Mother charged with endangering children following child's death investigation
Jan. 3—WILKES-BARRE — A mother was arraigned Thursday for child endangerment 11 months after authorities say her 9-year-old daughter was found deceased inside her deplorable apartment. Arlene Truitt, 30, of Parkview Circle in the Sherman Hills apartment complex, was charged with three counts of...
- Shakiel J. Moore-Taylor, Truitt's paramour who often stayed at the apartment, was later charged with involuntary manslaughter and three counts of child endangerment. Court records allege that Moore-Taylor made comments to family members that fentanyl had fallen onto a piece of cake the 9-year-old girl ate.
