Reports made to child services for years prior to diabetic Evansville girl's death, police say (2024)

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEVV) — We are learning more about the arrests of two Evansville parents following the death of their young child.

As 44News reported Wednesday, police said they arrested Brent Bredhold and Ashley Bredhold following the July death of their 12-year-old child Alice.

A police report obtained by 44News on Thursday morning shows more details on the tragic incident.

Investigators say they were originally called to the Bredhold's home on July 4, after the child's body was found.

When police arrived, they say they spoke with Ashley, who told them she lived there with the victim, two other children, and Brent, who was currently out of town for work.

According to EPD, Ashley explained the victim had Type 1 diabetes, which she was diagnosed with in 2020.

EPD says Ashley went on to explain the victim had a sensor on her arm that would send notifications to her and Brent's phones when her blood sugar levels were abnormal, but that the device was "dead" and had fallen off the victim's arm.

The police report says Ashley told authorities she had been at work all day on July 3, and came home around 1 a.m. the following morning to find Alice still awake. Ashley told officers that she told Alice to go to sleep, but did not check her blood sugar levels.

On the day of July 4, Ashley told EPD that she had sent her son into Alice's room to wake her up around 3 p.m. She said her son came back and told her Alice was sleeping on the floor and that she wouldn't wake up.

According to the EPD report, Ashley said it wasn't until two hours later at 5 p.m. that she went to check on Alice herself. She said she found her on the floor and called her name, and that she opened her eyes but wasn't very responsive.

Ashley told EPD investigators that she got a blood sugar reading for Alice and that it read "extremely high" so she gave her some medicine and left her in her room, checking on her a few times after.

EPD says Ashley told them she last checked on Alice about an hour before having her son call 911, which was at 7 p.m. that evening. EPD says that just before the 911 call, Ashley said she found Alice still on the floor, cold to the touch and not breathing.

When police asked Ashley if Alice had ever been hospitalized for diabetic complications before, they say she explained that Alice had to go to the ER in October of 2023. Police say the physician wrote they "strongly suspect" it was because Alice was not getting insulin routinely at home as prescribed.

After that trip to the ER, police say Alice and her parents were referred to a pediatric psychologist who recommended ongoing therapy for the victim's diabetes management, but that the family stopped showing up for appointments because the parents "forgot to schedule them."

EPD says the victim also had blood sugar problems at school, and that the Department of Child Services was contacted. According to the police report, two DCS case managers went to the Bredhold's house, and found trash in ever room and insects. They say they removed Ashley's two other children due to the poor home conditions.

Police say they had DCS forward them all assessments they had regarding the victim and her diabetes, which was six assessments dating back to 2021. EPD says all six of the assessments were reported to DCS by school officials, including two from 2024 that were both reported by the school nurse, who called Alice's condition "life threatening."

In one of the recent reports from the school nurse, the nurse noted that the victim was dropped off at school with extremely high blood sugar. The nurse said the victim would sleep in class every day, and that there was concerns over whether she was tired or in a diabetic coma, as she was allowed to stay up all night at home.

Police say the nurse was able to provide them with the victim's daily blood sugar logs for the school year, and that her blood sugar level when she got to school was greater than 300 on 34 days, and that on 13 of those days, it was greater than 500.

According to EPD, DCS closed the first assessment made by the nurse as "unsubstantiated," a day after the nurse called their second report in.

Two days after Alice's death, EPD says an autopsy was performed and showed her cause of death as diabetic ketosis.

As a result of the investigation, police charged Ashley and Brent with neglect resulting in death. Both are being held on a $100,000 cash bond, and are scheduled to appear in court at 1 p.m. Thursday.

44News has reached out to the Department of Child Services for more information on their investigations.