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PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA A mother of three toddlers was charged with manslaughter and abuse Tuesday after one child was found dead in a trash can outside the woman’s home.
Christian R. Woods, 21, is suspected of leaving her children home alone from 10 a.m. Saturday to 9:30 a.m. Monday. When Woods returned, she found Myleahya Woods, 1, dead and put her body in the trash, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office said.
But it wasn’t until early Tuesday morning that investigators found Myleahya’s body and her twin sister, Mykayhla, barely alive under a bed at a home in the 5600 block of Scotland Circle, Sheriff David Morgan said.
“I was, obviously, shocked by the case itself,” Morgan said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference at the Sheriff’s Office. “My reaction was the same as the investigators when they found the child alive.”
Mykayhla and her brother, Jaterius Woods, 2, were at a local hospital Tuesday being treated for signs of neglect, including dehydration. Mykayhla was in an intensive care unit, the sheriff said.
The siblings were left alone at a home that doesn’t have electricity or running water. Jell-O cups were left in the living room for the children to eat while the mother was away, Morgan said.
The mother told investigators she was at work in Mobile, Morgan said. The sheriff said his office has not verified that Woods has a job there.
Woods’ arrest report list her as being unemployed.
Woods was being held without bond Tuesday at the Escambia County Jail. She is scheduled to have her first appearance in court at 1:30 p.m. today.
An autopsy was performed Tuesday on Myleahya but the results were not available.
Missing child report
The story of the children began to unfold about 2:30 p.m Monday when their mother went to a Winn-Dixie and called the Sheriff’s Office to report Myleahya was missing, Morgan said.
She also called a grandparent from the store and asked him to go to her home to get the other children. The grandfather only found woman’s son at the home, Morgan said.
Investigators questioned Woods for about 12 hours before she admitted that Myleahya was dead, and she thought Mykayhla was still alive, Morgan said.
Investigators went to the home early Tuesday morning and found Myleahya in a trash can behind the home. Investigators thought Mykayhla was dead, too, until her eyes fluttered, Morgan said.
“I can tell you that there was jubilation in the room,” the sheriff said when the child was found alive.
Morgan said the home that the children were left in was in disarray.
“The home was filthy and there were several roaches throughout the home,” according to a Sheriff’s Office arrest report.
The Department of Children and Families has visited the house in the past. There was a complaint of neglect filed concerning the boy, said Janice Thomas, circuit administrator for the Department of Children and Families.
Thomas could not provide details of the case, citing privacy laws. But she said DCF did not recommend the child be removed from the house nor any court action.
Neighbors react
Crime scene unit investigators paraded in and out of Woods’ empty home Tuesday afternoon.
The house stands out in the quiet Bellview neighborhood, with its thick, overgrown grass amid a neighborhood of well-kept lawns. The blinds are cracked and broken and a paring knife is lying in the driveway.
On the front porch, there’s an unopened box of 82 Parent’s Choice diapers. There’s also was a tiny, red ladybug costume lying above a tiny, tan lion costume.
Neighbors said they hardly knew Woods and said she mostly kept to herself. Most refused to be identified for this story.
Charlotte Potter, 56, has lived across the street from Woods’ home since 1986.
She said Woods lived there about a year, but they only spoke once when her car battery died, and she needed a jump to get to work.
“She talked real kind and real soft. I would have never guessed,” Potter said. “It makes me just sick to my stomach though. I was never fortunate to have kids of my own. I would have tried to help her if I had known.”
Neighbors said Woods had an erratic schedule that had her coming home sometimes in the middle of the night. Some said they didn’t realize she had children.
Potter said it seemed like Woods lived alone with her children, but sometimes another woman she guessed was an older sister stayed with her.
Potter saw an elderly man at the house Monday evening.
“I thought he was looking for the lady that lives here,” Potter said. “He said no, he said he was concerned about his two granddaughters.”
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