A Corydon mother is facing felony charges after prosecutors say that for the second time, a child under her care has died while co-sleeping in a bed with adults.
Tina Schmidt, age 35, is charged with reckless homicide and felony neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Authorities say her 10-month-old died on Oct. 29.
Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Schalk cited the child's cause of death as "sudden unexplained death of an infant" with unsafe sleeping conditions as a factor.
"The evidence shows there as at least one or more fully-grown individuals present in the bed, along with numerous blankets," Schalk said.
He added that there is evidence that Schmidt was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time.
Schalk said it wasn't the first time a child has died under Schmidt's care. He said four years ago, another child died of asphyxiation in the exact same bed under similar circumstances. He said no charges were filed in that case, but Schmidt did sign an agreement not to allow co-sleeping in the home in the future.
Schalk said that prior incident played into his decision to bring charges in this case.
"These charges are based upon the fact that Ms. Schmidt knew or should have known how dangerous her actions were, especially in light of the fact that four years ago, in the exact same bed...another child died that was in her care," Schalk said.
"When you have multiple children die as a result of the exact same set of behavior, at a certain point, that's when criminal charges become apparent," he added.