New details are emerging about the death of a baby girl at a Milford motel last month. In an arrest warrant obtained by NBC Connecticut, police said she was found submerged in a bathtub in one of the rooms.
Investigators said she was found dead at the Mayflower Motel on Aug. 21 by a staff member. The warrant says the staff member went inside a motel room to clean when she found the baby dead, submerged in a bathtub.
The baby’s father, 31-year-old Dale Kirkland, was arrested and charged, accused of hurting his daughter.
“Sadness, but also that it’s real. This is a real problem in our country,” Kathryn Robb, director of the Children’s Justice Campaign with Enough Abuse, said.
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She said the news of a baby’s death is not uncommon. She points to a project from the University of North Carolina, showing data that children under the age of 14 are more likely to die from abuse and neglect than cancer.
“Neglect and abuse comes in so many different forms and in so many different facts,” Robb said.
The arrest warrant goes on to say a week before the baby was found dead, a motel guest told police Kirkland appeared “disheveled” and asked for “cigarettes and other drugs” as he was with his daughter.
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The warrant states surveillance video shows Kirkland walking into the motel room with his daughter and then leaving the room without her.
“Whether there’s intent or just negligence, something went terribly wrong,” Robb said.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) said they were involved with the baby’s family before her death.
“The fact that DCF was involved means that there were red flags on whether this child was safe or not,” Robb said.
She said DCF and other social service agencies are understaffed and overwhelmed and hopes this case can be a wake-up call for better funding in the future.
“Our children are really in danger, and I call on our leaders and legislators to do something about this problem,” Robb said.
Kirkland remains in jail on $1 million bond. He’s due back in court on Sept. 26.
