Tanya Gaskin, a 35-year-old mother of Greenville, North Carolina, has been arrested in connection with the death of her four-month-old daughter. The whereabouts of the missing infant has left authorities in shock.
According to the incident report, Gaskins had notified police that her 4-month-old daughter went missing three days ago. Gaskins was unable to find her daughter after breast-feeding the infant. She told police that her newborn daughter was in the bed with her and they both had taken a nap. After she had awakened, her daughter was missing.
“I took a nap around 4 PM after I ate some leftover KFC my neighbor had brought me and some chocolate cake,” Gaskins told police. “At the same time I was eating, I breast-fed my daughter for about 20 minutes then we both fell asleep. When I woke up around 6:30 PM and my little angel was gone. No one was at my house during that time that I know of.”
Authorities immediately searched the home of Gaskins but found no trace of the newborn baby girl. Police thoroughly questioned the mom and determined that she had no relation to the sudden disappearance of her daughter.
Three days following the incident, police arrived at the residence of Tanya Gaskins to be met by paramedics who were in the process of transporting the 700 pound women to the hospital. According to the paramedics, Tanya Gaskin had called 911 because of severe pains in her abdomen. Paramedics told the police that the house smelled of “something dead” with the odor lingering on Gaskins.
Police followed the paramedics to the hospital where doctors examined the morbidly obese woman – presenting the most gruesome discovery both doctors and the police had ever witnessed in the city of Greenville. The pain that Gaskins complained about in her abdomen, which doctors thought was appendicitis, was from the rotting corpse of her 4-month-old daughter. The girls tiny body was trapped under the fat of her mother.
Medical examiners determine the Gaskins rolled over the little girl while they both were sleeping, which led to the baby’s body getting stuck in the crevices of her mom. “The weight instantly killed the little girl, crushing her ribs and suffocating the child,” said Dr. Kingston, emergency room physician. “Because of the amount of fat on Tanya Gaskins body, she was unable to feel the little body being crushed underneath her. There was no way the little girl would have survived long in that situation.”
Tonya Gaskins was charged with child endangerment and involuntary manslaughter and is under house arrest awaiting trial.