Ex child welfare worker adopts girl, then abuses her until she dies, Florida cops say

An adoptive mom who used to work for the Florida Department of Children and Families is accused of locking her 13-year-old daughter in a garage and killing her.

The 34-year-old woman is charged with first-degree murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping and destroying evidence, the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office said in a Nov. 15 news release.

McClatchy News is not naming the woman to protect the identity of her other children.

When the former child welfare worker found her adopted daughter dead Nov. 14, she didn’t call for help right away, investigators said.

First, she took her four other children to Titusville about 150 miles away, drove back home to Sebring, scrubbed the garage with pool chlorine, then called 911, according to deputies.

The teen was found lying by the front door mostly nude and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to investigators.

First responders said they learned the homeschooled girl was restrained in the garage for an unknown length of time and monitored by a security camera. She had clearly been beaten and starved, and she had recent wounds on her body, deputies said.

“This is one of the most disturbing crime scenes I have encountered in more than 30 years of law enforcement,” Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman said in the release.

He said no amount of law enforcement experience could prepare first responders for what they found.

“What makes it even more appalling is that the suspect is a former employee of not only the Department of Children and Families, but also worked as a guardian ad-litem,” Blackman said. “That someone whose job it was to look after the welfare of children could treat their own child in this manner is simply beyond belief.”

The mom initially told investigators she found her daughter dead the morning of Thursday, Nov. 14, but later revised the time to 3 p.m., deputies said.

First responders said they got the call for help after midnight Nov. 15.

Sebring is about halfway between the Florida coasts and a 90-mile drive south from Orlando.

This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Ex child welfare worker adopts girl, then abuses her until she dies, Florida cops say."