Inset: Quinzena Rancefer (Fort Wayne Police Department). Background: The Allen County Jail in Fort Wayne, Ind. (Google Maps).
A woman in Indiana has learned her fate for falling asleep with her 2-month-old daughter in her arms, causing the baby to become wedged underneath a cushion and suffocate.
Quinzena Rancefer, 31, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three of those years suspended, according to court records reviewed by Law&Crime.
The defendant pleaded guilty earlier this year to neglect of a dependent causing serious bodily injury, canceling her scheduled jury trial.
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The case stretches back to March 25, 2024, when Rancefer was with her baby at her home in Fort Wayne. They were on the couch when the woman fell asleep.
Rancefer said her daughter normally slept in a nearby bassinet, but that night, the child slept between her and the back of the couch so she wouldn’t fall off the furniture, Fort Wayne-based ABC and NBC affiliate WPTA reported.
The woman’s cousin apparently arrived at the apartment and found the baby “face down and lying mostly underneath the couch cushion.”
Rancefer, on the other hand, was reportedly sleeping so soundly that the cousin had to hit her several times to wake her up. The cousin then noticed the baby was not breathing.
Authorities said Rancefer, at some point, did wake up, and became “hysterical” upon seeing her child not breathing.
The Fort Wayne Police Department was called to the home over a report of a young child in critical condition. When emergency workers got there, they pronounced the girl dead as a result of asphyxia due to overlay and wedging.
Police obtained a warrant to search the apartment, and investigators reportedly found a glass pipe with burnt residue inside, a torch lighter, suspected marijuana, and prescription pills. When Rancefer submitted to an oral drug screen, she tested positive for methamphetamine, authorities said.
An Indiana Department of Child Services case manager also discovered the child had been drug-exposed and had THC in her system.
The post Woman learns her fate for falling asleep with her 2-month-old daughter in her arms, causing the child to be ‘wedged’ underneath first appeared on Law & Crime.
