Bucks woman sentenced to jail time in asphyxiation death of 11-month-old baby at unlicensed day care

UPPER SOUTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- A Bucks County woman has been sentenced to jail time in the death of an 11-month-old baby she was caring for in August 2019.

Lauren Landgrebe, 50, pleaded guilty in June to felony counts of involuntary manslaughter, endangering the welfare of children, operating a daycare facility without a license and tampering with evidence.

The baby died Aug. 27, 2019, from asphyxiation by strangulation after being placed incorrectly in a car seat and left unattended for about two hours, officials said.

Upper Southampton Township police were dispatched just after 4 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2019, to Landgrebe's home for a report of an unresponsive baby partially strapped in a car seat on the dining room table.

The baby was taken to Abington Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 5:15 p.m.

Investigators said Landgrebe placed the baby in the car seat at 1 p.m. for a nap before going outside to lie by the swimming pool at her home.

At 2 p.m., Landgrebe returned and gave the baby a bottle, which she propped up on a rolled hand towel because the baby could not hold the bottle herself.

Landgrebe spent the next two hours by the pool and did not return to check on the child until 4 p.m., investigators said.

But during a separate interview with authorities, Landgrebe said she took a photo of the napping baby at some point after 2 p.m. but deleted it from her pictures while her husband was on the phone with emergency responders.

Investigators were able to recover the photo, which showed the car seat's leg straps were not engaged and the baby was slumped low in the car seat with the chest strap around her neck.

The leg straps would have prevented the baby from sliding down in the seat, officials said.

During an autopsy, a mark consistent with a chest strap buckle was found on the baby's neck, and the coroner determined the baby died from asphyxia due to strangulation from a car seat restraint.

Landgrebe could now spend nearly two years in county prison for the crime.