Mom Sentenced To Prison After Infant Falls Through Hole In House And Drowns In Sewage

A Detroit mother has been sentenced to one year in prison after her infant daughter fell through a hole in the floor and into the home’s flooded basement, where she drowned in sewage.

Dasiah Jordan, 26, appeared in court on Monday, where a judge handed down the one-year sentence in addition to four years of probation, Detroit’s Fox 2 reports. Jordan previously pleaded guilty to second-degree child abuse and involuntary manslaughter in relation to the death of her daughter, 11-month-old Ca’Mya Davis, according to the outlet.

Jordan and Davis were reportedly staying in a home owned by Jordan’s friend, 28-year-old Tonya Desirae Peterson, at the time of the accident in July. The child was in the care of Peterson and another unnamed adult when she fell through a hole in her mother’s room where a vent should have been, according to WJBK, a Fox-owned station in Detroit.

Dasiah Jordan Photo: MDOC

Police believe that Ca’Mya was unsupervised on July 6 when she fell into the basement that was flooded with sewage, The Detroit News reports. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to the outlet. A medical examiner has since ruled that her cause of death was accidental drowning, per WJBK’s report.

Both women knew of the hole in the bedroom, and Jordan stated that she usually kept it covered with a Pack ‘n Play, prosecutors claimed, according to Fox 2.

“I don’t know why it was uncovered or why she was in the room at that moment,” Jordan told the station last year.

Jordan is also the mother of two other children, aged 7 and 10, and a judge on Monday referenced those children while addressing the young mother, Fox 2 reports.

“You will suffer for the rest of your life about this but you shall hopefully learn from this and move on, and hopefully be the best mother [you] can be for the children,” the judge said.

Prosecutors previously claimed that Peterson, who was also charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse, had a 10-year-old girl watch Ca’Mya while she watched television, The Detroit News reports.

“She had a child sleeping in this room, with the only protection to be a cardboard box, fall through a basement filled with sewage and drown to death,” assistant prosecutor Jennifer Tink reportedly said during the preliminary examination in August. “A two-by-four with some nails would have prevented this.”

Peterson, 29, was also found guilty, with a judge sentencing her on Tuesday to 17 months to 15 years in prison, Fox 2 reports.