Police say the Indiana mom who was found in her car with her dead 3-month-old baby was intoxicated. A woman said she saw Rachel McAfee sitting in her car with the engine running when she left home to go to work on Monday.
When the woman returned home from work, McAfee’s car was still parked outside her home. The woman approached the car and noticed McAfee slumped over the center console and she was not wearing a coat. The car’s engine was off.
At that point, the concerned neighbor called 911 to request a welfare check.
According to a police affiliated obtained by WIBC, FOX29 and the Indianapolis Star, McAfee was discovered sitting in her car with her daughter Emma’s cold body and a bottle of rum nearby.
The 36-year-old appeared to be intoxicated, the affidavit states.
The baby was found on the floorboard of the car. She was “cold to the touch and appeared to be deceased,” according to Detective Gary L. Smith Jr.
The car was out of gas and the battery was dead, according to the affidavit. The interior temperature of the car was nine degrees.
McAfee was transported to a hospital where she was treated for cold-related exposure. She was later arrested.
Police say McAfee’s husband filed a missing person’s report when she failed to show up at her in-law’s home to drop off the baby that morning.
The missing person’s alert noted McAfee “suffers from alcoholism and postpartum depression and is possibly suicidal.”
John McAfee said his wife had an 11 a.m. appointment to go to an “intervention concerning her excessive drinking.” He filed the missing person report when she didn’t arrive home that night.
John McAfee said their baby was born two weeks early and underweight due to Rachel drinking excessively throughout her pregnancy. He said she missed her last doctor’s appointment because she passed out from drinking.
Rachel McAfee has been charged with neglect of a dependent causing death.
