Indiana – In a disturbing incident in Indiana that caught nationwide attention, a 27-year-old mother, identified as T. Echols, who was out on probation for the 2019 death of her 6-month-old daughter, has been arrested again—this time for leaving her four children alone in unsanitary conditions for an extended period while placing an 8-year-old in charge of her younger siblings.
The mother was taken into custody last week and charged with multiple counts of child neglect. Authorities say the latest charges stem from an incident that occurred just the night before, when police were called to her apartment after Echols’ own mother reported a disturbing phone call from her granddaughter. According to a probable cause affidavit, police responded to the apartment at around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday. Echols’ mother said she had received a tearful call from her 8-year-old granddaughter, who told her she had been alone for nearly two weeks with her 6-year-old, 2-year-old, and 4-month-old siblings. The girl said she had barely seen her mother and was unable to reach her by phone.
Officers arrived at the apartment to find it in disarray. The front door was unlocked. Partially eaten food and trash were scattered across the floor. The beds in the children’s rooms had bare mattresses, and it was clear no adult had been present for days. The 8-year-old informed police that it was not unusual for Echols to leave her home to care for the younger children, including the infant. She said she had tried calling her mother multiple times that day but never received an answer.
About 45 minutes after officers arrived, Echols returned home. She told police she had only gone out for about 20 minutes to get medicine for one of the children. However, this account didn’t align with what both the child and grandmother had told authorities. Confronted with the child’s statement, Echols eventually admitted that she had been gone all day and that she often left her kids alone with the 8-year-old “because she doesn’t feel like dragging them all out of the house at once.” When police asked whether she thought it was appropriate to leave an 8-year-old in charge of a 4-month-old, she gave no response.
Investigators noted that Echols had blocked most of her family members from contacting her, explaining that she was tired of arguments related to her choices. All four children were immediately removed from the home and placed into the custody of their grandmother, who had originally made the call to authorities. At the time of this most recent arrest, Echols was still serving a sentence of supervised release connected to the death of her 6-month-old daughter in December 2019. That infant died from multiple blunt force injuries. An autopsy revealed that the infant had suffered several skull fractures, a serious burn on her arm, and broken ribs and leg bones. Her death was ruled a homicide.
Echols avoided prison despite the horrifying details surrounding the death. In July 2023, she pleaded guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. While prosecutors had pushed for a stricter sentence, Judge J. Harrison handed Echols a controversial lenient sentence of two years of home detention followed by two years of probation. With the recent arrest and charges of child neglect, Echols is now in violation of that probation. A judge has ordered that she remain in pretrial detention without bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 8.
