Muncie mother charged with reckless homicide, neglect in infant's death
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie woman has been charged with reckless homicide in the death of her infant daughter, and authorities say it's the second time one of her children has died while sleeping with her.
Aaliyah M. Lykins, 21, is also charged with neglect of a dependent in the death, last Oct. 9, of 2-week-old Addilynn R, Lykins.
According to an affidavit, city police and firefighters were called to a South Shipley Street home that morning and found the baby "limp with no signs of respiration."
Efforts were made to resuscitate the infant and continued at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The affidavit indianced Aaliyah Lykins told EMS personnel she had been breastfeeding the baby when she fell asleep.
"Oh, no, I did it again," she also said at the scene, the court document reported.
According to the affidavit, Lykins "was fully aware of the danger of co-sleeping with her infant, Addilynn, as she had a prior born child die while co-sleeping."
In October 2020, police and fire personnel were sent to a home along South Franklin Street, after dispatchers received a report of a child not breathing.
The baby, 7-week-old Aiden Lykins, was also pronounced dead at the Muncie hospital.
The affidavit indicated Aaliyah Lykins advised Muncie police officers in 2020 "that she should not have placed Aiden in bed with her and that she knew it was wrong."
Still, Lykins was not charged in connection with her son's death in 2020.
Now, she faces a reckless homicide count, which is a Level 5 felony carrying up to six years in prison, while the neglect count filed against Lykins is a Level 6 felony with a maximum 30-month sentence. Those charges stem from the 2023 death.
Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman has issued public appeals for parents not to sleep in the same bed with their babies.
"Infants and babies should always sleep alone, on their backs, and in a safe crib," Hoffman wrote in an April 2022 column published in The Star Press. "Sleeping with the infant in an adult bed can result in the fatal smothering of an infant. Contrary to the belief of some, sleeping in adult bed with your infant or, engaging in other unsafe sleep practices is, by definition, child neglect. "
Lykins already faced a total of eight charges in three cases pending in local courts — battery resulting on bodily injury to a pregnant woman, domestic battery with a deadly weapon, domestic battery resulting in serous bodily injury, harassment and two counts each of neglect of a dependent and leaving the scene of an accident.
She was convicted of driving while intoxicated, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct in Grant County in 2022.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Aaliyah Lykins of Muncie charged in infant daughter's death
