WATERVILLE, Maine (NEWS CENTER)-A few weeks before three month old Brooklyn Foss-Greenway died at the home of her babysitter, another child overdosed on the same medication. Ashley Tenney and her eight month old daughter were living in the same home as the ten year old and her mother.
Tenney said her daughter was rushed to the emergency room and spent two days fighting for her life. According to the woman, the incident was ruled an accident by the Department of Health and Human Services, but the ten year old's mother withheld information that may have sparked an investigation and saved three month old Brooklyn's fate.
"The night that my daughter was rushed to Portland she had found a pill capsule on the kitchen floor and said don't tell Chad or Ashley because they are going to automatically blame her," explained Tenney. "If we would have known, Nicki would have known. I definitely would have told Nicki when I saw her girls going over."
Tenney was there the night of Brooklyn's death and described the scene as chaotic. According to state police, the infant was staying in ten year old's room that night. Tenney said in the moment she did not think the ten year old had any hand in the situation.
"The night that it had happened when they had brought the baby down just the look on her face. She looked so petrified and so scared. That's what made me not think or jump to conclusions that maybe she had done anything."
Tenney and her family moved out of the house after the infant's death. Soon after, Tenney said investigators took another look at the case and she began to think her daughter's hospital trip was not an accident.
"I was kind of shocked in a way. But before they had clarified that it was a homicide a detective had come, because they weren't notified until after Brooklyn's incident, to measure my daughter's arms and was told there was no way she could've grabbed the pill. Right then and there we pieced everything together," explained Tenney.
The mother spent time with the ten year old and said she knew what she was doing, "From the time that we had moved in, her mom had told her multiple times...you need to make sure you don't leave your pill lying around because if Jaylynn gets ahold of this she could die. She had said it multiple times to...I'm sorry but being ten you comprehend things more than people think that you do."
The ten year old is in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services. She has only been charged with manslaughter in the case of three month old Foss-Greenaway. The ten year old is due in court next month.
NEWS CENTER