Was Brittney Leigh Hensley suicide pact with daughter ruse to kill her? A Mississippi mother has been arrested after a failed suicide pact led to her 10 year old daughter overdosing after the mom deciding to not go through with her end. But did she ever intend to in the first place?
A Mississippi mother has been charged after making a suicide pact with her daughter only to fail to go through with her end as she watched her 10 year old overdose on prescription pills and come close to dying.
Brittney Leigh Hensley was booked on felony child abuse charges causing serous bodily harm following her arrest in Alabama earlier this month, the Ocean Springs Weekly Record reported.
The mother was extradited to Mississippi on October 29 and taken into custody at the Jackson County Adult Detention Center in Pascagoula, Miss., where she remained held on a $500,000 bond.
Police began to build case against mother
Investigators said the mother and daughter made the pact on July 6, while they were staying at a Studio 6 Motel in Ocean Springs.
Police were called to the hotel just before 6:30 p.m. responding to reports of an overdose.
Police said Hensley’s daughter had already ingested a bunch of pills by the time the parent started having second thoughts about ending her own life.
The pills had reportedly been prescribed to Hensley.
The 10 year old girl was unconscious when cops arrived and rushed to hospital for treatment where she survived her ordeal. The girl’s mother was also taken to hospital albeit in a seperate ambulance.
Officers located several unknown capsules and empty prescription medication bottles in a green backpack near the unresponsive girl, WXLOX reported.
Hensley soon after fled Mississippi as police began to file a case against the parent.
Knowing she has family there, detectives tracked Hensley to Huntsville, Alabama, where she was detained on Oct. 14.
Had Mississippi parent ever intended to kill herself?
Police said Hensley told them she’d also taken pills on July 6, but didn’t specify how many, or over how long a time period she took them, the Weekly Record reported.
Blood work conducted on the mother was not consistent with her statements to investigators. An attending physician concluded that if the mother’s statements were ‘true and accurate then she would have been deceased,’ People Magazine reported.
The physician’s statements raise the possibility that the mother had never sought to kill herself but only her daughter.
Of note, the Ocean Springs Police Dept said the mother and her daughter had already come to their attention following various ‘interactions’ since arriving to the area some 3 weeks earlier. Police had already been considering involving child protection services prior to the overdose episode.
Doctors said they expect Hensley’s daughter will fully recover from the overdose. Authorities declined to release her identity. The where abouts of the child’s father remained unclear.
The 10-year-old is now in the custody of Mississippi’s Child Protective Services.
Brittney Leigh Hensley’s case is now slated to go in front of a grand jury. It remained unclear if further charges would be made.
