The parents of an 11-month-old baby girl whose dead body was found dumped in the woods have been arrested in connection with her death.
Kenny Lain, 41, and Tiffany Coburn, 32, were arrested after their 11-month-old daughter, Mercedes Lain, was found buried in woodland in the US state of Indiana on Wednesday (18th August).
The toddler was last seen at 12.30am on 14th August in the city of Mishawaka in Indiana.
The cops launched a state-wide Silver Alert asking anyone with information on the girl’s whereabouts to come forward.
The community rallied and social media was used to spread the word with the hope someone might have information on where the girl was.
The search was called off on Wednesday (18th August) when Justin Miller, 37, a family friend who was asked to watch the baby, led cops to her corpse in the woods.
According to FOX 59, Miller claimed he woke up on Saturday morning (14th August) and found that Mercedes had died of neglect so he took her body and dumped it in a nearby wood.
The girl’s parents contacted Miller on Saturday and he allegedly told them he dropped her off at a friend’s house.
Miller handed himself over to the authorities on Wednesday and led the police to where he dumped the body four days prior.
According to court documents seen by FOX 59, Miller’s version of events changed several times and he eventually admitted that he was under the influence of synthetic marijuana while looking after the girl.
The police attempted to contact the girl’s parents several times over the course of the weekend, but they didn’t answer and never returned the calls.
On Monday (16th August), the police managed to contact Lain and Coburn who were reportedly very uncooperative.
They also found that Lain was under the influence of an unknown substance while Coburn allegedly admitted to having used amphetamines.
Miller will be charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death while Lain and Coburn have been arrested and could face charges of neglect of a dependent.
The death of the baby girl shook the local community and many of them left flowers at the site of where the body was found. A candlelight vigil in her memory has been planned.
The charges could change depending on the results of the autopsy.
