Neglect charges in daughter’s drowning

BY STAN MADDUX

Charges have been filed against the parents of a three year old autistic girl who drowned in a nearby lake after wandering away from her home near Long Beach last year.

Andrew Allen, 35, and Breanne Smith, 33, are charged in La Porte Superior Court 1 with neglect of dependent resulting in death.

The level 1 felony offense carries a potential 20 to 40 year sentence.

According to court documents, both parents were home but not properly supervising the girl, Ivy Allen, when she went out the back door of the residence May 12 at 401 Long Beach Cove just north of U.S. 12 near Karwick Road.

The girl was found unconscious in Lake Clare near Hacienda restaurant about 45 minutes after her father reported her missing, police said.

She was taken to a hospital and later died.

According to court documents, there was a history of the girl opening doors to leave the home unattended and prior involvement by the Indiana Department of Child Services because of her straying from the residence.

The couple has two other young daughters, one with autism and the other with spina bifida, police said.

Smith told investigators she went to a bedroom when, following breakfast, Ivy returned to watching TV in the living room. It was 15 minutes later when she discovered the patio door was open, police said.

A short time later, a police officer spotted a woman resembling Smith near the small lake.

“It appeared that the woman was looking for someone,” said Michigan City Police Detective Anna Painter in her report submitted to the court.

According to police, Allen said he was asleep at the time of her disappearance.

Emergency responders were contacted about three hours later after her parents were unable to find the child.

Allen said the girl opened doors often to venture outside but, usually, they found her quickly, according to court documents.

He said in this case, though, it was the longest she had disappeared, court records disclosed.

A few months prior to the girl’s death, police said child welfare authorities gave the parents a home alarm system designed to go off whenever a door opened.

The parents hooked up the alarm system but it was not properly installed, police said.

In 2016, child welfare authorities first became involved with the family after Smith delivered a baby testing positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to court documents.

Five years later, they were contacted again when Smith gave birth to a child testing positive for THC and Subutex.

The baby was showing signs of withdrawal from the Subutex often used to treat heroin and other forms of opiate dependence, authorities said.

After a month after the drowning, police said Allen tested positive for amphetamines and methamphetamines while the same drugs along with THC were found in Smith’s bloodstream.

After being taken into custody Wednesday, Allen and Smith were ordered held in the La Porte County Jail on a $100,000 bond pending their initial court hearings.