An Indiana mother, aged 27, previously on probation related to the tragic death of her 6-month-old daughter in 2019 due to neglect, has found herself in legal trouble once more. She has been arrested for reportedly leaving her four young children unattended at home for nearly two weeks.
On Monday, Tenisha Ann Echols was arrested and faces several new charges related to child neglect, according to official records. In a recent development, authorities were alerted around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday to an apartment complex on Troy Avenue following a concerning call from Echols’ mother. She reported receiving a troubling communication from her 8-year-old granddaughter. A young girl found herself in tears, left to care for her three younger siblings — ages 6, 2, and just 4 months — while her mother had been largely absent for the past two weeks.
Upon reaching the location, authorities reported that the door was ajar and there was uneaten food and litter scattered throughout the area. The children’s beds were stripped down to bare mattresses, and it seemed that an adult had been absent for several days.
An 8-year-old informed authorities that Echols usually leaves her to look after the other kids, including the baby. The affidavit reveals that the child made multiple attempts to reach her mother, but Echols did not respond to the calls.
Authorities successfully contacted Echols, who showed up at the apartment around 10 p.m., stating she had stepped out momentarily to “retrieve medicine for one of the children.” After being handcuffed and informed of her Miranda rights, she chose to engage in a conversation with the detectives.
Echols reportedly responded when asked about her absence, stating, “About 20 minutes.” Authorities observed that the “time itself didn’t make sense” according to the accounts given by the grandmother and her 8-year-old grandchild.
Echols reportedly acknowledged her daughter’s allegations, stating that she had spent the entire day out and often “leaves her kids home alone with the 8-year-old at times because she doesn’t feel like dragging them all out of the house at once.”
When questioned about the safety of leaving an 8-year-old responsible for a 4-month-old, police reported that Echols “gave no reply.”
Echols informed officers that she had restricted most of her family from contacting her to avoid disputes regarding “her sexuality.”
Authorities took the children from the home and entrusted them to their grandmother’s care.
When Echols was taken into custody, she was currently serving probation related to the tragic December 2019 passing of her infant daughter, De’Reya, who succumbed to multiple blunt force injuries. An autopsy revealed that the infant had sustained multiple skull fractures, a significant burn on her arm, and fractures to both her tibia and ribs. De’Reya’s passing has been officially classified as a homicide.
Echols entered a guilty plea in July 2023 for a charge of neglecting a dependent, which led to serious bodily harm. In a surprising turn of events, Judge Jennifer Harrison delivered a lenient sentence that defied the prosecutors’ recommendations, imposing two years of home detention, followed by two years of probation, with no prison time involved.
New allegations of neglect have resulted in Echols breaching her probation, prompting a judge to mandate her pretrial detention without bond until her upcoming court date on July 8.
