A 27-year-old Indiana mother, already on probation for her baby’s death, has been arrested after allegedly leaving her four young children — including a 4-month-old infant — alone for nearly two weeks.
Tenisha Ann Echols was taken into custody Monday and faces new charges of child neglect. According to a police affidavit, officers responded around 9:15 p.m. Sunday to her apartment on Troy Avenue after receiving a call from Echols’ mother. The grandmother reported that her 8-year-old granddaughter was crying over the phone and said she had been left alone to care for her siblings — a 6-year-old, a 2-year-old, and a 4-month-old baby — with little to no adult supervision for days.
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When officers arrived, they found the apartment in disarray, with food and trash scattered on the floor and bare mattresses for beds. Police described the scene as one where “an adult hadn’t been around in days.”
The 8-year-old told officers her mother routinely left her in charge of the younger children, even the infant. She had tried to call her mother several times with no success.
Echols showed up at the apartment around 10 p.m., claiming she had just stepped out for 20 minutes to get medicine. However, police said her story didn’t match what the child and grandmother had reported. Confronted with her daughter’s claims, Echols admitted she had been gone all day and often left the children in the care of her eldest because she didn’t want to take all the kids out at once.
When asked whether she thought it was safe for an 8-year-old to care for a baby, Echols reportedly gave no answer. She also told officers she had blocked most of her family’s numbers because she didn’t want to argue with them about her sexuality.
Child Protective Services removed all four children and placed them in their grandmother’s custody.
This incident marks a serious violation of Echols’ probation. She had previously pleaded guilty in July 2023 to neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury in connection with the 2019 death of her 6-month-old daughter, De’Reya. The baby died from multiple blunt force injuries, including skull fractures, a burn on her arm, and fractures to her ribs and leg. The death was ruled a homicide.
Despite the severity of that case, Echols received a lenient sentence: two years of home detention and two years of probation, with no prison time. That decision, made by Judge Jennifer Harrison, went against the prosecutor’s recommendation.
Following her latest arrest, a judge has ordered that Echols be held without bond in pretrial detention. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 8.
