Jill Marie Humphries (WXIX screenshot) and Kenna Harper Wilson (GoFundMe)
A mother in Indiana is calling for an arrest to be made in connection with the death of her 3-year-old daughter, who was found cold and dead inside a septic tank in October. Jill Marie Humphries is now demanding that her 16-year-old niece, who was babysitting young Kenna Harper Wilson at the time of her tragic death, be prosecuted for allegedly neglecting the toddler.
“She took something from me that’s irreplaceable. I can’t,” Humphries said in an interview with Cincinnati, Ohio, Fox affiliate WXIX. “Some days I can’t get up. Some days I can’t even go to work.”
Humphries said that she dropped Kenna off at her niece’s home on Thursday, Oct. 16, and went to work. Later in the day, she got a call from her sister with horrifying news about her daughter.
“She was hysterical,” Humphries said of her sister. “She said, ‘There’s something wrong with Kenna. She’s not moving and they’re doing CPR.””
Humphries left work immediately and drove to Norton King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison, Indiana, but said that by the time she arrived, everybody knew Kenna “was gone.” The coroner told Humphries that Kenna had “no heat left in her” by the time she was brought to the facility
Kenna was declared dead at 7:36 p.m., according to an obituary in the Osgood Journal.
“She was ice cold. She had sewage in her hair and in her eyes,” Humphries said. “I rocked her for probably 6 1/2 hours before the coroner and the deputy coroner promised me they would take good care of her.”
The Ripley County Prosecutor’s Office reportedly told the station that troopers with the Indiana State Police responded to the scene immediately where a preliminary investigation revealed that the toddler “got away” from the babysitter and was alone when she came to the septic tank.
Investigators said they found evidence that Kenna likely moved the tank lid. However, whether Kenna climbed into the tank or fell in remains unclear, WXIX reported.
County Prosecutor Ric Hertel told WXIX that Kenna’s death was a tragedy, but not one that appeared to have been caused by criminal wrongdoing.
“My heart goes out to her, but there are some situations that are terrible accidents,” he reportedly said in an email to the station.
Humphries disagreed, telling WXIX she believes charges should be filed against her niece.
“I’d like justice. I don’t feel like any justice has been served,” Humphries said. “Negligence. She neglected my child. And my child as a result ended up dead in a septic tank.”
In addition to Kenna’s untimely death, the station also reported that Humphries’ sister died two days later.
A GoFundMe to benefit Humphries was set up by Alicia Benham, who described herself as a “life long friend” of Humphries.
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