Baby’s death ruled a homicide; 3 arrested

When she was born June 15, Ashley Waters weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces.

Eight weeks later, when the local medical examiner conducted her autopsy, the Polk County infant weighed just 6 pounds and 2.4 ounces.

The medical examiner determined that she died from dehydration and neglect, reports state. He ruled her death a homicide.

Polk County sheriff’s deputies Friday arrested Ashley’s parents and grandmother. The parents, 22-year-old Mark Waters and 26-year-old Megan Butkiewicus, face charges of aggravated manslaughter and child neglect, Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Horstman said.

Mark Waters’ mother, 51-year-old Joyce Ilsley Waters, faces a charge of failure to report child neglect.

Deputies said both parents and the grandmother insisted they fed the baby formula multiple times a day.

Records show Ashley was taken to a doctor at least five times in June and July but never recorded a weight higher than 7 pounds and half an ounce.

Ilsley Waters, who lives at the home with the couple, said she had been worried about Ashley’s weight and gave the baby 4 ounces of formula on the morning of the day she died.

She didn’t know how often or how much the parents fed Ashley.

Waters said he tried to feed his daughter twice before finding her unresponsive, but she didn’t take either of the bottles.

Deputies said they found several bottles of formula throughout the home but described their living conditions as “squalor,” an arrest report states. There wasn’t running water, and the kitchen was filled with dirty dishes.

The couple’s 18-month-old girl also lived at the home and was suffering from severe diaper rash, deputies said. After her sister’s death, a doctor examined the toddler and found she also had signs of physical neglect.

Mark Waters and Butkiewicus are each being held on $115,000 bail. Ilsley Waters is also being held in a Polk County Jail on $50,000 bail.

This is the second case of an infant starving to death in Polk County in less than a year.

In December 2014, a medical examiner found 22-day-old Betsey Kee Stephens weighed just 4 pounds and 1 ounce at her death — 2 pounds less than when she was born and about half the weight of an average infant her age.

The baby’s mother, 24-year-old Ruby Stephens, and her husband, 49-year-old Roy Stephens — who is not the child’s father — were arrested on first-degree-murder charges.

The Indiana residents called 911 from the parking lot of a Golden Corral restaurant in Lakeland after getting no response from the child Dec. 23.

The baby had not eaten between six and seven hours before she died, officials said.

The newborn was dead for at least 3½ hours before the mother called 911, a report said.

The “infidelity” that resulted in her pregnancy and Betsey’s birth placed a strain on their marriage, Ruby Angeline Stephens told police, according to her arrest report. She said her husband didn’t pay much attention to the baby.

Both their cases are still pending.