COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. — Collier County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) arrested a woman after a child in her care drowned in a bathtub at a Golden Gate Estates home.
Detectives arrested 29-year-old Nicole Marie Laber on a manslaughter charge after an investigation found she left the infant alone in a bathtub, leading to the child drowning, then lied to deputies about how it happened.
Laber initially told deputies she had briefly left the infant inside the house unattended while she went to retrieve her dog and another young child in her care after they went out the front door. When she returned, she said she found the infant slumped over on the floor, face-down, in the dog’s water bowl.
However, further investigation revealed Laber left the infant unattended in a bathtub while strapped to a booster seat. The infant drowned after the booster seat tipped over and trapped the child under a few inches of water.
CCSO investigators said afterward, Laber cleaned up the scene and dressed the deceased child in a diaper to make the drowning look like an accident.
Adam Ketchmarchi, Executive Director of the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, told Fox 4 drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death for infants.
"Seconds, minutes matter," he said."Never leave your child unattended in the bath."
Ketchmari also said tragedies like this one can happen to anybody.
"Most of the parents I work with who have lost a child to drowning... are good parents."
The key to prevention: Education and supervision.
Laber is in the Collier County jail charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
