Miguel Badillo and Kiara Davis, Columbus, Georgia parents arrested after baby found dead wedged b/w mattress & couch in waiting home disaster.
A Georgia couple face murder charges following the death of their 8 month old baby who was found dead wedged between a mattress and a couch at their ‘filthy’ Columbus area home according to police.
Miguel Badillo, 24, and Kiara Davis, 27, were taken into custody on Wednesday and charged with one count each of second-degree murder and second-degree child cruelty in the death of their daughter Ellie, Columbus, Georgia police announced in a news release.
On Sept. 27, Columbus police were called to a home in the 4300 block of Rosemont Drive about a dead 8-month-old baby. The Special Victims Unit was called to the home and led the investigation, WSB-TV reported.
Waiting disaster
Detectives said, while conducting a search warrant, they learned the baby had been placed on an angled mattress on a love seat. According to detectives, there were no safety measures in place to stop the baby from rolling off and becoming wedged between the mattress and couch cushions. The baby ultimately suffocated to death, police determined.
Authorities obtained arrests for the baby’s parents, Kiara Davis, 27, and Miguel Badillo, 24, on Nov. 8.
They were arrested on Wednesday, November 13th and booked into the Muscogee County Jail.
Along with both Both Davis and Miguel being charged with second-degree murder, second-degree child cruelty, the parents were also charged for possession of drug-related objects.
At a court hearing on Friday, Nov. 15, Columbus Police Department investigators told a judge that the child died from asphyxiation while her mother was outside talking to a friend, WTVM reported.
The father was reportedly not home at the time of the incident.
The couple’s landlord, Howard Turner, described the parents as ‘very caring of that baby on what I could tell,’ reports WTMV. ‘It was just like a freak accident.’
Describing the scene to a judge, an investigator noted, ‘There were multiple animals inside the house that were unconfined. There was animal feces. There were insects in every room of the house. There was half-eaten food that was decaying in every room of the house.’
Investigators testified that both parents were aware of the sleeping arrangements for the child. ‘And both parents were aware of the conditions in the household and they were aware of the sleeping conditions of the child,’ stated another CPD investigator.
Badillo and Davis currently remain held in Muscogee County Jail.
