A 31-year-old York County woman facing a homicide charge after a 16-month-old girl in her care choked to death while alone in a car safety seat is facing additional charges.
Kyla Denise Ziegenhagen was originally charged with two felony counts of child abuse and one felony count of homicide after deputies from the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office said the child became entangled in a safety seat harness and choked to death Aug. 12 at her home in the Landings at Langley.
She was charged with two additional counts of child abuse Aug. 22 after investigators say they determined she left two infants home alone — including the girl who later died — while she went to a McDonald’s in Hampton with three other children to get breakfast earlier that day.
When initially interviewed by a York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office investigator, Ziegenhagen said she placed the 16-month-old in a child car safety seat around 2 p.m. Aug. 12 and took her outside on the front porch while other children in her care played in the yard, according to a criminal complaint filed against her in York Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. The infant fell asleep, so she said she took her inside and left her in the master bedroom before going downstairs to fold clothes while the other kids watched a television show.
She told investigators she went to check on the 16-month-old around 4:30 p.m. and found her cold to the touch and unresponsive, according to the complaint. But that story differs from what investigators say they learned by talking with the 16-month-old’s mother.
The investigator said in the complaint he received information from the infant’s mother that Ziegenhagen had a veterinarian appointment at 2 p.m. elsewhere in York County. Investigators received confirmation from the veterinary clinic Ziegenhagen showed up for her appointment with her two children — ages 3 and 6 — and an infant male in a stroller, according to the complaint. The 16-month-old was not present, nor was an 8-year-old left in Ziegenhagen’s care that day.
Ziegenhagen was interviewed again Aug. 14. She admitted she went to the veterinary appointment with her two children and a 1-year-old left in her care, according to the complaint. She told the investigator she left the 8-year-old and the 16-month-old at her home.
Zeigenhagen had placed the 16-month-old in the car seat on the mattress in the master bedroom, the complaint states. She was gone for about 45 minutes to an hour, she told the investigator, and when she came home around 3 p.m., she did not go to the master bedroom to check on the infant.
Instead, she sent the 8-year-old to the master bedroom around 4:30 p.m.to check on the infant, according to the complaint. The 8-year-old returned “indicating something was wrong,” which prompted Ziegenhagen to go to the master bedroom, where she “found [the infant] had slid down in the car seat, becoming entangled in the car seat harness.” The infant was “cold to the touch and unresponsive.”
Ziegenhagen “immediately called 911 and began administering CPR,” the complaint states. The 16-month-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
An interview with a juvenile involved in the alleged incident led to two more child abuse charges against Ziegenhagen, according to a separate criminal complaint filed against her.
The complainant states he interviewed the juvenile, who told him on the morning of Aug. 12, Ziegenhagen fed the younger children then strapped the 16-month-old in an infant seat and placed the child upstairs in her bedroom, according to the complaint. She then put a 15-month-old in a “pack and play” in the closet of an upstairs bedroom.
She then loaded her two children as well as the juvenile into her car and drove them to the closest McDonald’s to get breakfast, leaving the 16-month-old and 15-month-old at home, according to the complaint.
Investigators determined Ziegenhagen used her credit card at McDonald’s around 9:20 a.m. that day, according to the complaint.
She was charged with two more felony child abuse counts Aug. 22 for allegedly leaving the two children at home while she went to McDonald’s, and is being held at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail without bond.
If convicted of the five charges, Ziegenhagen faces a maximum of 60 years in prison.
She is scheduled to attend a preliminary hearing at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 23 in York Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
Correction: A previous version of this story spelled the suspect’s name Kayla. Her correct name is Kyla.
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