Background: News footage of Kymberli Bowden's home in High Point, N.C. (WGHP). Inset: Kymberli Bowden (Guilford County Sheriff's Office).
A North Carolina mother was charged with child neglect after police found the body of her 13-year-old daughter in the family home.
Kymberli Bowden, 44, was arrested on Thursday following an investigation into the death of her 13-year-old daughter. In a press release, the High Point Police Department stated that officers responded to a welfare check at Bowden's home on Oct. 13. Inside, they found the body of Bowden's daughter and the girl's twin brother, who was still alive. In a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, police said that Bowden's home was "filled with trash, rotting food, and unsanitary conditions."
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Following an investigation into the girl's death, Bowden was charged with two counts of child neglect causing serious bodily injury and concealment or failure to report the death of a child. Police said that Bowden "failed to provide adequate food" for either of her children. In the case of her daughter, police said she also failed to provide medical care, "which resulted in serious bodily injury and ultimately her death."
The surviving boy, police said, "sustained serious psychological injury and mental harm" as a result of the living conditions in the home. By making him live in the same home as his deceased sister, police said this constituted "prolonged neglect" and "extreme trauma."
A neighbor in Bowden's neighborhood who saw police activity at her home told local Fox affiliate WGHP that Bowden was removed from her home on Oct. 13 on a gurney. No additional information was provided about her condition that day.
Police did not indicate who had custody of the surviving child.
Bowden was taken into custody on Thursday and booked into the Guilford County Jail on $1 million bond. Her next court date is scheduled for Nov. 17.