Two Evansville parents charged with neglect after their infant son was found dead

Houston Harwood and Ray Couture, Evansville Courier & Press
·2 min read

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — An Evansville infant is dead and his parents have been arrested after the mother reportedly fell asleep and woke up with the child underneath her, police said.

Taylor Smith, 26, and Timothy Wilson, 47, have been preliminarily charged with neglect of a dependent causing death.

A news release from the Vanderburgh County Coroner stated the infant was named Wade Wilson, and was two weeks old at the time of his death. The official cause of his death will be released once an autopsy is performed. He was born on May 27, according to birth records obtained by the Courier & Press.

According to an Evansville Police Department news release, the family's home in the first block of Oregon Street west of Main Street reportedly contained narcotics and didn't have running water.

EPD officers and the Evansville Fire Department responded to a report of an unresponsive infant just before 7 a.m. Wednesday, police said. First responders unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate the child.

According to the probable-cause affidavit, responders arriving at the home found Wilson attempting to perform CPR on the baby. In 911 audio, dispatchers instructed Smith on how to check if the child was breathing. He wasn't.

Smith and Wilson reportedly told detectives that Smith went to bed with the child around 2 a.m. and woke up later in the morning "with the child underneath her body." Wilson said he was awoken by Smith screaming "the baby," and went downstairs and found the infant unresponsive.

In later conversations with officers, Wilson reportedly said that Smith had been ordered to stay away from the child by the Department of Child Services because both Smith and the baby had methamphetamines in their system at the time of birth. He reportedly told officers he disregarded that order because he wanted the three "to be a family," according to the affidavit.

Operating on a search warrant, officers allegedly found evidence of narcotics use at the residence and noted in the affidavit that "there was no crib or bedding for the infant and the home was littered with trash."

This story will be updated.

Houston Harwood can be contacted at walter.harwood@courierpress.com with story ideas and questions. Twitter: @houston_whh | Instagram: @harwoodhouston. Contact Ray Couture at rcouture@courierpress.com or on Twitter @raybc94.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: EPD: Evansville parents charged with neglect after infant found dead