Background: 1254 Office Park Road, West Des Moines, Iowa where Kayla Bevar’s toddler drowned (Google Maps). Inset: Kayla Bevar (Polk County Jail).
A 21-year-old Iowa woman was charged with child endangerment resulting in death after her toddler son drowned in the bathtub.
Kayla Bevar was taken into custody on December 4 after an inquiry into the tragic drowning of her 20-month-old son. The West Des Moines Police Department revealed that they received a distress call from Bevar’s residence around 7 p.m. on October 31. Reports showed that Bevar contacted emergency services upon discovering her son in the water. Despite being rushed to the hospital, the child was pronounced dead.
According to court records, Bevar disclosed to authorities that she initiated her son’s bath at 6:30 p.m. on the fateful night and left the room as the tub filled with water. She indicated that she intermittently checked on her son while he was in the bath before drifting off to sleep. Bevar later confessed to investigators that she regularly and carelessly left her toddler unattended in a filled bathtub for short intervals.
When Bevar found her son, he was “floating on his side” and unconscious as the tub overflowed.
For more from Law & Crime, read: ‘That’s parenting 101’: Foster mom left special-needs toddler in bathtub alone for ‘more than 30 minutes’ to chat on phone, police say
In addition to what the police called a “known act of negligence,” they reported that the state of the apartment where Bevar lived with her son “had spoiled food and trash all over the floors” and that there were “diapers containing exposed fecal matter in the bathroom.” They also found no food in the apartment suitable for a toddler and “no apparent children[‘s] clothing.”
Bevar was charged with two felonies — child endangerment resulting in death and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. She remains in custody at the Polk County Jail on $1 million cash bail.
