Lindsee Leonardo Knoxville Tennessee mother charged with murder of 11 month old baby son who drowns in bathtub after going for smoke break & ‘me time’
Did she mean to kill her own baby? A Tennessee mother of two is to be charged with first degree murder after her 11-month-old son died after being left in the bathtub after she allegedly stepped away to have a cigarette and listen to music on her phone, say authorities.
The boy’s death follows then less than two days after Lindsee Louise Leonardo, 32, of Knoxville returned from her ‘smoke break’ only to find her youngest son unresponsive WATE reports.
On Wednesday at about 8 p.m., Leonardo called 911 after finding her 11-month-old son, Aiden Xavier Leonardo, floating face-up in a bathtub, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office says in an arrest warrant, WBIR reports.
She told investigators she’d left the 11-month-old and her 23-month-old child in the bathtub alone in 4 to 6 inches of water while she stepped outside ‘to smoke a cigarette and have some ‘me time,’’ according to an arrest warrant.
Leonardo as per the arrest warrant said ‘she was outside for about 10 minutes and listened to two songs on her phone’.
When she returned, she saw the water in the tub filled to the top because the 23-month-old had turned the faucet back on in the 10 minutes she was gone.
Does one leave two barely toddler babies unsupervised in a bathtub filled with water for ten minutes?
Knox County baby listed in critical condition but unable to survive ordeal:
The warrant described the mother finding baby Aiden floating on his back while the 23-month-old stood in the tub.
Leonardo grabbed the unresponsive baby out of the water and placed him on her bed while she called 911 and listened as dispatchers told her how to perform CPR until paramedics arrived, the warrant says.
Emergency responders rushed the victim to Tennova Turkey Creek Medical Center where he regained a heartbeat, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports.
He was later transferred to the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital and was listed in critical condition as of Thursday night.
On Friday, officials at the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital announced the baby had died, WBIR reports.
‘Our hearts are saddened at the loss,’ Knoxville County Spokesperson Kimberly Glenn said Friday. ‘We expect additional charges to be forthcoming. As for now, the investigation is continuing.’
Court records show history of family conflict before baby’s death.
Yet perhaps most perplexing are new revelations of court records showing history of family conflict before Aiden’s death.
In a twist, Aiden’s father who had previously filed an order of protection against Lindsee earlier this year maintained the mother having acted in good faith while conceding not having exercised good judgement.
‘It was just an accident. Lindsey is not to blame for this. She just made a bad judgement call even though it was the wrong time, but she’s a great mother and does anything and everything for our babies,’ David Brandon Dillingham told via WBIR.
The father said despite him and Lindsee not often ‘seeing eye-to-eye’, not wanting to see his estranged partner behind bars. The two did not live together and had serious disagreements in the past.
‘We didn’t see eye to eye on things and every relationship has its problems,’ Dillingham said.
In May 2019, when Aiden was only a few months old, the boy’s father filed for an order of protection against his mom.
Dillingham wrote Leonardo ‘followed me home’ and ‘comes to my place of work […] and cusses me in front of my co-workers.’
His petition for an order of protection was dismissed — the court said he did not prove his case by a preponderance of evidence.
But there’s more.
Two children victims of a fractured family life:
In early October, Leonardo filed a petition for an order of protection against Dillingham.
She told the court ‘my relationship with David has been traumatic from the beginning.’ She accused him of threatening to harm Aiden and his 23-month-old sister Sophia. She said her children needed to be protected from him.
Her request was dismissed for the same reason.
Dillingham said Aiden’s death had left him devastated.
‘Please watch your children very closely. Every second counts. And you can’t take anything for granted,’ the father said.
He said grandparents are taking care of Sophia.
The Department of Child and Family Services (DCS) is investigating Aiden’s death.
A fractured family whose burden of being had been left on two children to bear.
Leonardo remains held in the Knox County Detention Facility in lieu of a $100,000 bond. It remains unclear if the woman has retained an attorney.
