Woman jailed in connection with girl's death

PORT ORCHARD — A 21-year-old Navy wife accused of fatally neglecting her 18-month-old daughter, then storing her body for weeks in a garbage bag, was ordered held Tuesday in lieu of $500,000 bail.

The woman was arrested Monday on suspicion of manslaughter and booked into the Kitsap County Jail. Kitsap County prosecutors said charges were expected Thursday and could include second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminal mistreatment.

The Seattle Times generally does not name suspects unless they have been charged.

She had moved to the Jackson Park Naval Housing Area in Bremerton in August as her sailor husband prepared to leave from Kings Bay, Ga., aboard the USS Maine, a Trident submarine being relocated to the Bangor sub base near Bremerton.

According to documents filed in Kitsap County Superior Court, she suffered from a steadily worsening depression, which led her to do the bare minimum for her two children, an 18-month-old girl and 3-year-old boy. She let the boy make his own snacks and get his own water by climbing a step-stool to reach the kitchen sink, court papers say.

Eventually, according to court papers, the woman was giving the girl only about three 8-ounce bottles of milk per day, and changing her diaper only once a day.

A week before Thanksgiving, the documents say, the woman left the window open all night in the girl's room to air out the stench of dirty diapers, then found the child had a 102-degree temperature the next day.

She reportedly found the girl dead in her room after leaving her alone for 40 to 44 hours. That was a few days before Thanksgiving, according to court papers. The woman ate Thanksgiving dinner with neighbors, telling them the baby was sick and staying with friends.

Instead of reporting the death, the records say, she put the child's body in a black plastic garbage bag, along with some dirty diapers, and left it in the child's bedroom until last Friday. When she realized her husband would be arriving soon, according to the documents, she put the bag into a box and taped it shut, setting it on the porch.

Her husband's submarine arrived Sunday at Bangor, and authorities were notified Monday of the baby's death, the papers said.

The 3-year-old boy was placed in protective custody.

"This is sad," Navy spokesman Tom Danaher said. "It's a serious concern of ours and we're — we're perplexed."

In a previous version of this story, a headline stated that the woman was from Port Orchard. She actually lives in Bremerton.