A nine-year-old girl has died from an infection after living with “lice all over her head,” leading to her mother and grandmother being charged.
Police responded to reports of an unresponsive child in Arizona, US, but despite efforts to save her life, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tucson Police Department were called to the scene by Tucson Fire Department on Tuesday, March 22, to 8200 block of East Golf Links Road.
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Officers who attended the scene are reported byAZ Familyto have noted concerns for the child’s welfare.
Interviews are understood to have been carried out by Child Physical Abuse Unit detectives who charged 38-year-old mother, Sandra Kraykovich, and the child’s grandmother with child abuse.
The mother is understood to have called emergency services on March 22, but, shortly after she was pronounced dead “large amount of bugs began to cover her face,” police said.
Further inspection found “enormous amounts of lice in her hair” and, the outlet reports, that an older sibling said that mouthwash had previously been used in a bid to try and get rid of the lice.
Ms Kraykovich said the girl was anaemic and had been unwell since March 15.
She said she had suffered breathing difficulties, headaches, balance problems and nausea.
Messages were later found on the mother's phone saying she knew she needed to take the girl to hospital, including a message to her boyfriend on March 21 that said: “OMG babe. Listen I’m in my room and my mom was called me. (Name redacted) was asking if I could check on her to make sure she isn’t dying.”
He is understood to have suggested she take the girl, but she did not.
According to investigators, the home was found “dirty” and in a “general state of disarray.”
The grandmother, Elizabeth Kraykovich, is understood to care for the children when their mother is at work and sent her a message saying that the girl: “Can’t go to the ER with her hair but that’s left up to me cause your not home.”
Two other siblings have been removed from the home and also had lice.
Sandra is being held on a $50,000 bond in the Pima County Jail.
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