An Indianapolis woman charged with neglect after her toddler daughter was found dead underneath a dresser has now been charged with murder.
An examination showed that 2-year-old Skylar Gardner passed away due to hypothermia and had sustained multiple injuries, some occurring after death and believed to be caused by a rodent, according to WRTV.
Chantell Gardner contacted 911 on January 25 after discovering the young girl unresponsive and described her as “cold to the touch,” as reported by CrimeOnline. She informed investigators that she often left the children unsupervised for several hours but would return once a day to provide food for them. Her boyfriend supported her statement, indicating that she spent her nights with him and rarely took the children with her.
Recent legal documents outline the injuries sustained by the child and reveal that the apartment they resided in was extremely cluttered, with walls, floors, and furniture coated in dirt, including feces. The authorities referred to the apartment as a “biohazard,” as stated by WXIN.
Gardner denied physically harming toddler or her 3-year-old brother but admitted the neglect. She said she had stopped taking the children to doctor’s appointments because she feared they would be taken away. She eventually stopped taking the children out of the house at all because of the “hygience and smell.”
She also said she knew the furnace in her apartment wasn’t working but hadn’t reported it to maintenance because she didn’t want anyone to see the condition of the residence.
Gardner’s boyfriend, Brian Thomas, has been charged with assisting a criminal.
