GUILTY IN - Emma McAfee, 2 mos, (mom Rachel found alive), Indianapolis, 4 Mar 2019 *mother arrested*

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I've dealt with antenatal and postpartum depression. It was very frightening. I just held on to the thought that I knew it would leave and not stay that way. And I don't think my husband really understood what he needed to do or could have done for me. But he never would have come across that cold and uncaring about me. He would have clearly come across concerned and worried for me AND baby. So I'm still not giving this guy a pass. If he couldn't even pretend to care about her on the news then I can only imagine how kind and supportive he was in private.

But still I'm baffled at the idea of letting a woman you would call a drunk take off like that with an infant, your infant. It doesn't quite add up. That's not just ppd that ppd and drunkenness. Gah, either way I'm very sorry for this whole family. I'm sorry that poor baby girl suffered like that. I'm sorry mom screwed up and killed her baby and now will spend the rest of her life living with that. And I'm sorry for what seems like the jerky dad because he'll always wished he could have or would have done more. Poor little baby. She deserved so much better.
 
I know I read somewhere that her husband was(is currently?) a teacher. I’m not sure of her occupation but she is listed as staff at Eastwood Middle School on E. 62.
https://ew.msdwt.k12.in.us/directory/ (Page 2) (click the green button at the bottom of the page to populate the directory)

Anyway, I did some more digging around, her maiden name is Seibel. Here is a link to a news article giving further information: Missing mother, infant found; mom grew up in Brown County
...”Rachel McAfee, 36, is the former Rachel Seibel who grew up in Brown County. Her grandfather was Dr. Robert Seibel, who served as Brown County’s health officer for more than 50 years and operated a clinic in Nashville.”
 
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My wife grew up with Rachel and they've been friends since childhood. We know both of them and their little family, were at their wedding, etc. They are both good hearted and hardworking people. Rachel is a speech pathologist with her masters and works in public schools helping children overcome speech issues. John works for a tire company, long and late hours. Knowing what we know of them, the only explanation is the postpartum depression. All of it is just crazy and completely out of character. The loss of the little one is horrific and sad, and not knowing the full picture yet of how it all happened, we're just hoping she is able to get the help she needs. Please pray for them, if that is your thing.
 
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caspias said:
So heartbreaking and sad. There was a bottle of rum on the floor of the vehicle and the baby was on the floor deceased. Rachel had short term memory loss when questioned by police and was unaware of the status of the baby. Just horrific.

UPDATE: Court docs: Mother arrested in baby’s death had ‘no concept of time,’ appeared to be intoxicated
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So sad, all the way around. I hope she gets all the help she needs.

From the article:
“McAfee was taken to Eskenazi Hospital in critical condition, police said, and was being treated for frostbite. Her car was less than .1 mile from where her in-laws live.”
 
This whole situation is just horrible. I cannot even imagine what she and her family are going through now. She was found so close to the mother in law’s. It’s so tragic no one found Emma in time. If I recall there was not an immediate search set in motion?

The details honestly just get more sad and baffling, like the fact that she was dropping off her baby on the way to her own intervention. Although it’s unclear she knew that’s what the meeting was for.

I’m sorry too for what most be a horrible personal shock to you and your wife, caspias.
 
Indy resident here. Many of us are questioning why anyone would stage/be part of an intervention for Rachel and then allow her to leave to drop off the baby at the in-laws on the way...or why Dad shared so openly about her alcoholism on camera even before the two were found...or why Dad knew her condition was so bad that she missed her 2/22 doctor appointment, yet didn't insist on being the parent who drove Emma to the sitter's. I'm not directing blame at him or at anyone until we know more of the story, but some of this just seems really off. FWIW, I just heard from a friend of a friend that Mom had recently been treated at a crisis center here in town and released in the last couple of weeks as well.
 
lark75 said:
This whole situation is just horrible. I cannot even imagine what she and her family are going through now. She was found so close to the mother in law’s. It’s so tragic no one found Emma in time. If I recall there was not an immediate search set in motion?

The details honestly just get more sad and baffling, like the fact that she was dropping off her baby on the way to her own intervention. Although it’s unclear she knew that’s what the meeting was for.

I’m sorry too for what most be a horrible personal shock to you and your wife, caspias.
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I'm not sure we know how long her vehicle had been in that neighborhood though. We know from the witness' statement that she was seen there around 7:30am Tuesday and then again right before 3pm, but I'm not sure it's been clarified where she and the baby were from the time they left the house on Monday am until the sighting on Tuesday am.

The details are extremely baffling.
 
lark75 said:
This whole situation is just horrible. I cannot even imagine what she and her family are going through now. She was found so close to the mother in law’s. It’s so tragic no one found Emma in time. If I recall there was not an immediate search set in motion?

The details honestly just get more sad and baffling, like the fact that she was dropping off her baby on the way to her own intervention. Although it’s unclear she knew that’s what the meeting was for.

I’m sorry too for what most be a horrible personal shock to you and your wife, caspias.
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We are shocked and saddened, flabbergasted by it all. It just seems like there were so many missed opportunities where this may have been prevented, friends/family, etc. Not placing blame on John, but why in the heck, if you know the issue is so severe, is she driving anywhere with either of the kids?!?!?! Ultimately, responsibility falls on Rachel for the decisions she made that led to this horrible outcome. But I can't help but feel like a lot of people who care about her let her down as well. So sad for the loss of that sweet baby. We had no idea she had spiraled so far.
 
I wonder if she was so out of it mentally that she though she’d dropped the baby off already, & her intention was to drink herself into unconsciousness & freeze to death in the car as a means of suicide. (Seems this is nearly what happened to her, seeing as she’s in critical condition herself.)
It’s a damn shame she didn’t drop off the baby first, & honestly, that she was in charge of the baby that morning to begin with. It doesn’t seem that she was in any mental condition to be in charge of a newborn, to be going into work, or to be operating a motor vehicle. So, so sad.
Rest In Peace, little one.
 
No, it seems like she should never have been alone with the baby or, frankly, driving a car if people knew she was likely to be drunk, and that’s what feels so sad about this. Emma was just beautiful.

So the article said her car was out of gas and the battery was dead. Maybe she was trying to get Emma to the MIL’s at some point and the car died .... I didn’t see in the article whether the car was running when the witness first saw it that morning. I wonder if she had a cell phone with her or at least one that was working. I know they couldn’t actually contact her.

I cannot imagine I would not be canvassing every inch of this city looking for them all day and night long if this was my family. Not saying the family didn’t do this, but just that it is so sad that in the end she was so close to the MILs. It feels like there were so, so many ways this could have ended differently. Although the witness saw her holding Emma in the morning, I guess we don’t know when Emma died. Sorry, this one is just hard to process.
 
Wow. She was passed out drunk and missed a ped appointment. She'd recently been inpatient for drinking. They were supposedly staging an intervention for her alcoholism. WTH kind of a moron leaves someone who passes out drunk to take care of an infant or take her anywhere??

I agree.... did she know this was an intervention so didn't show up and got super drunk instead? If not why be so heartless as to expect the drunk to drive her baby somewhere for the in laws to babysit before intervening? The in laws couldn't be bothered to drive to get the baby or watch the baby at home? These all sound like it's intended to make her look bad but it makes the family look horrific. She's falling down drunk and depressed but SHE is the one expected to take the baby to her ped appt. SHE is expected to drive the baby to her in laws to babysit for her own intervention??
 
I also highly suspect there was no intervention. Who drives to their own intervention? It makes no sense. I'm wondering if the father and his parents are now making this up to make themselves look less neglectful in their role here. Because a parent who allows someone who is abusive and neglectful to remain in charge of a child they are usually complicit if harm comes to that child are they not?

But at the same time dad doesn't seem to realize how bad his excuses make HIM look. Mom was too drunk to take baby to the ped? Well you know what my dh's arms aren't broke. He helps take the kids to the doctor. You make things work without expecting someone to drive drunk for a ped appt. That's already an emergency situation. Someone should have been watching that baby instead of mom. They are absolutely admitting that mom was too dangerous to be left alone with the baby BUT that they expected her to do it anyway because she's the mom. They were clearly more cognizant of what they were doing than she was.

The INSANITY of expecting an alcoholic to drive her infant for babysitting for an intervention. WOW
 
Police: Mother of deceased infant appeared to be intoxicated


“McAfee's initial court hearing has been set for March 8 at 9:15 a.m. McAfee is being charged with Count 1 Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death, which is a level 1 felony.”

Okay, so she was supposed to drop the baby off at the in laws prior to this intervention. Did they bother to find out where she was? Did they contact JM to notify him that she was a no show? How about this intervention? Did they alert him at that time?

Further, with her history, I would think that, in the very least, location trackers would have been utilized.

ITA, she had no business driving her baby anywhere, nor driving herself, to an intervention.

@beatrixpotter “Mom was too drunk to take baby to the ped? Well you know what my dh's arms aren't broke. He helps take the kids to the doctor. You make things work without expecting someone to drive drunk for a ped appt.”- exactly!

Eta: typo fix and last paragraph/quote
 
I'd be interested in seeing the cell phone records - on the local news here, they showed a screenshot (not time-stamped, for whatever reason) of a text exchange between the two. It seemed to me like Mom and Dad were in contact after she left, and then at the bottom of the screenshot they shared, he sent a text saying that his mom said RM never showed up and then asked where she was and what she was doing. I wonder when he first contacted police?
 
Mother arrested on neglect charge after death of 3-month-old daughter

Mar 7, 2019


fox59-baby.jpg

(Emma [Photo provided by family])
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Occam's Gillette Razor said:
I'd be interested in seeing the cell phone records - on the local news here, they showed a screenshot (not time-stamped, for whatever reason) of a text exchange between the two. It seemed to me like Mom and Dad were in contact after she left, and then at the bottom of the screenshot they shared, he sent a text saying that his mom said RM never showed up and then asked where she was and what she was doing. I wonder when he first contacted police?
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Oh okay, I can answer my own question: Docs: Mom appeared 'intoxicated,' when dead baby found in car

Soooooo "unable to contact her since 10 a.m., he filed a missing person report at 7:30 p.m." Not sure if he couldn't do that before then because the law requires individuals to have to wait a certain amount of time before doing so? Did he drive the route to his parents' house and around their neighborhood after discovering she'd never shown up? So many questions...
 
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