The Indiana residence where the defendants allegedly left their children unattended is shown on Google Maps, as is the KFC the defendants visited after allegedly abandoning the children.
Two women in Indiana face accusations of leaving their children unsupervised, including a two‑year‑old girl who was repeatedly stung by bees while the women went to KFC.
Jocelyn Chandler, 30, and Katrina Garrett, 32, were arrested and preliminarily charged with five counts each of neglect of a dependent and two counts each of marijuana possession, according to court records.
A probable‑cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime indicates that Muncie Police Department officers responded to a residence on the 1900 block of East Highland Avenue shortly after 5 p.m. on Friday. The response was prompted by a welfare‑check call reporting that “a baby was outside by herself with a full diaper, screaming, and appeared to have been stung by bees.”
Upon arrival, officers discovered five children in the home and no adults. The oldest child, age 11, informed police that the children had been left without adult supervision, a situation he claimed occurred regularly. Emergency medical personnel attended to the toddler after officers observed injuries “consistent with bee stings on her backside.”
Two older children told officers that their parents had left to pick up a babysitter who lived far away. When officers asked the children to call their mother, one child possessed a cellphone that lacked service.
Chandler and Garrett later arrived and identified themselves as the children’s mothers. Garrett told police that they had left the children unattended for approximately 45 minutes to one hour while they retrieved a babysitter.
Garrett explained that after picking up the babysitter, the women stopped at an ATM, realized they lacked sufficient funds to take the older children for a nail appointment, dropped the babysitter off at Meadowview Gardens Mobile Home, and then proceeded to a KFC on South Madison Street for food.
The affidavit records Garrett’s statement as follows:
“Katrina stated that she left the children by themselves for approximately 45 minutes to one hour. She and Jocelyn went to Meadowview Gardens Mobile Home to pick up a babysitter, intending to take the oldest children for a nail appointment. Katrina then went to the ATM at the gas station at Wysor and Madison, realized she did not have enough money for the nail appointment, returned the babysitter to Meadowview Gardens, and finally went to the KFC on South Madison to obtain food before returning home.”
Garrett acknowledged that she should have left Chandler at home and agreed that the two older children were incapable of caring for a two‑year‑old. She admitted that the marijuana found in the residence belonged to her and described leaving the children unsupervised as a “terrible decision.” Garrett also informed police that she and one of her children have autism.
Chandler similarly recognized that someone should have remained with the children and disclosed that an active Department of Child Services (DCS) case involved her children. She claimed the children had been left alone for roughly 45 minutes to one hour, admitted that unsupervised care was a mistake, and affirmed that the marijuana belonged to her.
During a consented search, an officer described the home’s condition in stark terms:
“The residence was in a deplorable condition. Heavy clutter filled the living room, unsecured knives rested on a table within reach of the children, and a green substance emitting an odor consistent with raw marijuana lay on the table, also within reach. Items associated with drug use, including a grinder containing a green substance, were accessible to the children.”
Police also reported finding open diapers containing feces within the children’s reach, a litter box that had not been cleaned for an extended period, and other conditions that exposed the children to biological hazardous materials and illicit drugs.
A social worker provided care for the children while the mothers were in custody, after which DCS assumed custody of the minors.
Garrett and Chandler were each booked into the Delaware County Jail on $11,000 bonds, as reported by Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN. Neither defendant appeared on the jail roster as of Monday afternoon, and the court schedule for their appearances remained unclear.
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