Left to right: Cheyenne Star Fite (Osceola County Sheriff’s Office) and Riley Scot Hogeback (Lanier Funeral and Cremation Services).
A 25-year-old woman from Florida has been taken into custody in connection with the passing of her 5-year-old stepson, who authorities say drowned in a manmade ditch containing urine and feces. The woman, Cheyenne Star Fite, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with aggravated manslaughter by child abuse, based on court records accessed by Law&Crime.
Details from a probable cause affidavit reveal that deputies from the Osceola Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about a drowning incident at a residence on North Kenansville Road in Kissimmee around 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2024. Upon their arrival, emergency personnel found a naked and mud-covered 5-year-old boy who was unresponsive.
Paramedics transported the child to HCA Florida Osceola East Emergency where he was pronounced dead at 6:17 p.m. as a result of drowning.
During questioning by investigators, Fite reportedly mentioned that she was looking after the three children – aged 3, 5, and 5 – and permitted them to play in the yard as the property was without electricity at the time. She disclosed that due to rainfall from Hurricane Helene, there were numerous ankle-deep puddles in the yard, and the children were occupying themselves by playing in the muddy water.
“Cheyenne [Fite] stated as the kids were playing, she turned her back for approximately 5 minutes to fold clothes inside the trailer,” the affidavit states. “All of a sudden, Cheyenne [Fite] hears her 5-year-old daughter yell, ‘[redacted] is under the water.’ Yet, Cheyenne [Fite] did not believe [her daughter] initially and continued her task.”
Fite also said that a family friend had been over earlier in the day and “dug a deep hole to drain the water on the property.” The hole measured about 15 feet by 10 feet and was about 7 feet deep, police said. It was located next to a pigpen and was filled with what “appeared to be run-off water from the pig pen.”
After some time, Fite realized she hadn’t seen any sign of the 5-year-old boy and that he was “inside the manmade hole underneath the ‘dirty and muddy’ water,” so she jumped in and pulled him out. Fite said the boy did not know how to swim and refused to provide police with her phone number, claiming her cellphone was “in the hole.” Unable to call 911, Fite said she yelled for help and her mother came to assist.
The boy’s father told police he was working at the time of the incident and said Fite was responsible for watching his son. The father told police he “had suspicions” Fite was “not properly providing supervision of his son at the time” and said he was “furious a hole was dug without his knowledge and that hole was where his son drowned.”
Fite allegedly claimed the hole was “a few feet away” from where she was folding clothes and could “hear the children if she turned around. However, police said the distance from the hole to the trailer was about the length of a football field and that her view would have been obstructed, making it “unlikely” she could have provided “proper supervision of the children at the time.”
In examining the hole where the boy drowned, police said there was “an odor emanating from the water consistent with fecal matter and urine.”
“There was a green child-size boogie board in the middle of the drainage ditch near the area where [the victim] was recovered,” the affidavit states.
One of the victim’s siblings told police that Fite had left her brother “outside naked as a form of punishment because he was hurting a chicken early that day,” per the affidavit. The child also said that while her brother was drowning, Fite was asleep in bed.
In court documents, prosecutors said the child’s cause of death was determined to be drowning, adding that his “lungs were lined by brown and green mud.”
Fite is currently being held in the Osceola County Jail without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
“He was a sweet but mischievous boy, always ready with a laugh that could light up a room,” the dedication said. “Even in challenging moments, Riley’s spirit remained unbreakable, and his smile never waned. His love for life and his ability to find joy in the simplest of things were an inspiration to all who knew him.”
