Indiana State Police have taken the lead on the investigation into a
local 1-year-old girl's death.
Samantha Burris and her boyfriend Richard Kennedy were charged with felony child neglect after the baby suffered a serious head injury in Mount Vernon.
Nyla Brantley was taken to an Evansville hospital on Oct. 3, then transferred to a children's hospital in Cincinnati, where she died in the intensive care unit. Her death was ruled a homicide.
According to a probable cause affidavit, police were called to an Arby's restaurant in Mount Vernon on Oct. 3. There, they met the baby's father and mother. The parents told law enforcement Nyla was unresponsive.
A Posey County sheriff's deputy checked the baby to make sure she was not choking and had normal reflexes. When she responded normally, the affidavit says, the deputy decided to "simply comfort the child until the ambulance or EMTs arrived."
Then he noticed raised bumps on her forehead.
The baby's mother told police they had just picked up Nyla from a babysitter's apartment in Mount Vernon after the babysitter texted Nyla's parents and said the baby "was not acting right." The woman babysitting the 1-year-old had cared for Nyla before, police say, including during overnight or multiple-day visits.
State Police believe Nyla suffered a serious head injury while in the babysitter's care last week. According to the affidavit, both Burris and the child's mother said Nyla was unhurt when she arrived at Burris' apartment.
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