A Louisiana toddler’s mother, two juveniles, and another adult were arrested Friday after the little girl was beaten to death while the adults had left the children unsupervised in the home.
Dineshia Yates — the mother of 3-year-old Blessing Buckles — and Terica Scott, both 26, told investigators they had been at a casino when they arrived at the home early Monday morning while East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputies were knocking on doors in the neighborhood, WBRZ reported.
Deputies said a juvenile called 911 shortly before 4 a.m. on February 12 and reported the toddler wasn’t breathing. The reporter said that no adults were home and he didn’t know the address of the house where they were.
Medics found the girl not breathing but resuscitated her and rushed her to a hospital. She died two days later. Doctors said Buckles had a brain bleed and bruises on her face and body that were consistent with blunt force trauma. A 4-year-old girl who had also been in the house had similar injuries.
Investigators determined that 10- and 12-year-old boys, both left alone in the house with the two girls, had beaten them.
Court documents say that Yates and Scott left eight children, ranging in age from 11 months to 12-years-old, alone while they went to the casino. Yates said that she and her children had been staying at Scott’s home for the past two weeks.
Scott, the mother of one of the juvenile suspects and the aunt of the other one, and Yates reportedly told detectives that they were aware of violent behavior in the home and had seen bruises on one of the girls, but neither of them did anything to stop it, and they reportedly frequently left all the children home without adult supervision, WAFB reported.
The two boys have been charged with simple battery and second degree murder and are in custody at the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center. Scott and Yates are charged with principal to battery and principal to second degree murder. The two adults are each being held on $20,000 bond.
Both women have prior criminal arrests, WBRZ said.
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[Featured image: Dineshia Yates and Terica Scott/East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office]
