Sean D. Lee II and Donrea McLaughlin are facing charges of felony murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect after they left 3-year-old girl and her twin alone for eight hours, police said. Lee and McLaughlin returned to find the 3-yea-old girl unresponsive in their Gainesville, Florida, apartment, according to authorities. The girl was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. (Gainesville Police Department)
A 3-year-old girl died after being left alone for eight hours with her twin, and now her mother and her mother's boyfriend are facing murder charges, police in Gainesville, Florida, said Friday.
The Gainesville Police Department and paramedics were called to a home Sept. 1 for a 3-year-old girl who was found unresponsive. The girl was taken to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
According to police, the girl's mother, 22-year-old Donrea McLaughlin, told detectives she found the girl unresponsive after waking up from a nap. She said she was sleeping for several hours when she was awakened by her boyfriend, Sean D. Lee II, 26. That's when they found the girl unresponsive, she allegedly said.
But police claimed to debunk their story.
Detectives said they discovered that McLaughlin and Lee had actually been at work for eight hours and left the girl and her twin alone without any supervision. The couple found the girl unresponsive — not breathing — when they returned home, police said.
"Further investigation revealed a history of prolonged abuse and neglect, which contributed to the death of the one sibling and the injury to the other. The surviving sibling received treatment at a nearby hospital, on the night of the reported incident," the press release said.
The press release did not say how the girl died. A judge honored a prosecutor's request of sealing the arrest affidavit because of an ongoing investigation, court records show.
Authorities say that during the investigation, McLaughlin and Lee left Gainesville and moved to Atlanta where they previously lived.
Gainesville police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service Regional Fugitive Task Force to arrest McLaughlin and Lee in Atlanta. They will be extradited back to Alachua County.
Lee and McLaughlin are facing charges of felony murder, aggravated child abuse and child neglect. Their bond is set at $4.5 million.