A mother and grandmother have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a nine-year-old girl died of a severe case of head lice.
Sandra Kraykovich, 38, and Elizabeth Kraykovich, 64, have been charged in the death of the unidentified boy.
Court documents reported how emergency services arrived at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on June 22 and found the girl unconscious with a large number of insects on her face.
According to the Metro, they added: “Upon closer inspection it was discovered that there was an enormous amount of lice in her hair.”
Authorities say text messages sent by her mother prove she was aware of her daughter’s condition, Law and Crime reported.
She texted her boyfriend on March 14 and 15 about the issue, writing on March 21, ‘OMG babe. Listen I’m in my room and my mom called me. (redacted) was asking if I could check on her to make sure she isn’t dying.’
The police said that she did not, although her boyfriend told her to take the girl to the hospital.
One of her older sons claimed that he tried to treat the lice with mouthwash.
The grandmother is also charged because she would have been aware of the seriousness of her condition.
She had discussed calling 911 but she didn’t, and she wrote to Sandra that the girl ‘can’t go to the ER with her hair but that’s left to me because you not home’.
An autopsy revealed that the girl had died of anemia related to a lice infection.
It turned out that malnutrition was also a factor.
The girl’s overall cause of death was listed as negligence by the Pima County Medical Examiner.
After the two women were arrested, Sandra’s other two older children, who also had lice, were placed in the care of other family members.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.