FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): A Fort Wayne couple has been charged with neglect in connection to a child’s death.
Byron Allen Hynes, 24, and Madyson Paige Conley, 24, were each charged with six felonies of neglect of a dependent on Thursday in the death of a child and for living conditions of three other children according to the Journal Gazette.
Court documents reveal that the child, whose age and name were not identified, died from pneumonia. The Allen County Coroner’s Office says that the death was natural but could have been prevented with proper medical care.
Police came to the home in the 2100 block of Hobson Road at 12:35 a.m. on May 1 on a report of a child not breathing. EMS crews performed CPR, but the child died a short time later.
Hynes reportedly told officers that people in the home were getting what they believed was the flu, and everyone but the girl was getting better. The victim and another child in the home also had cystic fibrosis.
Detectives say that the apartment had a high number of flies in it, dirty and sticky floors, pieces of food all over the floors, trash bags next to children’s beds, animal feces on the walls, bathroom walls smeared with feces and unsecured firearms within reach of children.
Hynes and Conley were previously investigated by DCS for improper care between 2021 and March 2022.
