WEST HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman is accused of leaving her 3-month-old daughter, who died of exposure, outside in a vehicle while passed out inside a residence after using methamphetamine, authorities said.
Emily Rose Weaver, 32, of West Hempfield Township, was arrested on Thursday, Lancaster Online reported.
According to a news release from the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, Weaver was charged with homicide in the third degree, involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child.
According to an autopsy performed by the Lancaster County Coroner’s Office, Weaver’s daughter, Jeannie Rose Golden, died from asphyxia due to hypothermia, WPMT-TV reported. Coroner Stephen Diamantoni ruled the death a homicide, according to the television station.
Charging documents stated that Weaver’s stepfather and another person went to check on her at her residence on Wednesday after she failed to pick up her two sons from school, Lancaster Online reported.
They found Weaver unresponsive on a bed in a second-floor room, according to the news outlet. Upon waking up, Weaver allegedly said she did not know where her daughter was.
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Her stepfather went outside and found the child unresponsive in a car seat in a Nissan Altima at about 4:30 p.m. EDT, Lancaster Online reported.
The vehicle’s doors and windows were closed, police said. The Altima was parked in direct sunlight on a day when temperatures in the area topped 80 degrees, according to WPMT.
The coroner’s office pronounced Golden dead at 7:08 p.m. EDT, the district attorney’s office said in its news release.
During an interview with detectives, Weaver allegedly admitted to using methamphetamine twice between Sunday and Wednesday, WPMT reported. She added that she intended to use the drug again on Wednesday but “(did) not remember, according to a criminal complaint.
Weaver was charged with endangering the welfare of a child by Millersville Boro Police in 2018, according to the television station. The following year she pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor drug offenses and a summary traffic violation. Weaver also was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and endangering the welfare of a child stemming from a 2018 incident, according to WPMT.
She relinquished parental rights to her other two children in 2021, investigators said.
An investigation is ongoing, the district attorney said in its news release.