Parents arrested, kids removed as toddler’s death investigated

The parents of two deceased children, including a 1-year-old girl whose body was found earlier this week in a Liberty County swimming pool, have been arrested amid ongoing investigations into the toddler’s death by area law enforcement and Child Protective Services, officials said Wednesday.

Londell Laviene, 28, and Bonnie Tarrant, 41, on Tuesday were booked into Liberty County Jail on two misdemeanor charges of interfering with public duties and resisting arrest. They have since posted bond, officials said, though the exact amount was not available in online records.

Also Tuesday, the parents’ four surviving children, ranging in age from 1 month to 14 years, were removed from the home by Child Protective Services and placed into foster care. The toddler’s death comes six years after the parents’ 4-year-old boy drowned at a community swimming area near Dayton.

The Department of Family and Protective Services confirmed that CPS is investigating the death of the 1-year-old, whose body was found Monday afternoon in a neighbor’s above-ground swimming pool on West Pine Street in the city of Daisetta. The child’s autopsy results have not been released.

“The family has had contact with Department of Family and Protective Services before, but specific details are confidential,” said DFPS spokesperson Melissa Lanford.

The Texas Rangers and the Daisetta Police Department are assisting the Liberty County Sheriff ’s Office with its investigation.

Sheriff ’s Capt. Ken Defoor said the parents have been uncooperative in their probe. He said the child did not show “obvious” signs of trauma at the scene but noted that the autopsy will provide a more accurate picture.

The family reported the child missing around 2:30 p.m. Monday and found the body while deputies were en route to the home, according to an earlier news release.

Two Liberty County Sheriff’s Office investigators interviewed the parents, who said the child had been put down for a nap earlier in the day. They said she was not in her bed when they checked on her two hours later.

The parents initially filed the missing person report “thinking the child had just walked away,” the sheriff ’s office said.

The previous death, in July 2015, was determined to be accidental and did not lead to criminal charges. At the time, the parents said they called 911 after their 4year-old boy had been missing for about 30 minutes from Nine Mile Lake Water Park in south Liberty County.

They “had been circling the lake calling for their son as well as using a public address system to get his attention,” authorities said at the time. Searchers eventually discovered the boy’s body in the water.

“It was a weekend — other people were out there — and the child just wasn’t supervised or kept under close watch,” Defoor said. “That case was sent to the DA’s office. They reviewed it and no charges were ever filed.