Infant Falls Through Floor in Disheveled Home, Drowns

Ca'Mya Davis was just 11 months old
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2018 11:23 AM CDT
Mom Charged After Baby Falls Through Hole in Floor, Drowns
Stock photo of a baby's feet.   (Getty Images/PeopleImages)

At just 11 months old, Ca'Mya Davis couldn't walk unassisted yet, but she was pulling herself up and walking along walls. On July 6, the Detroit infant was roaming what the Washington Post describes as a house in disrepair when she fell through a hole located in a bedroom floor and died. The cause of death, however, wasn't trauma due to the fall but rather drowning: A press release from Wayne County cited by the Detroit Free Press states the baby "drowned in standing water and sewage in the basement." The girl's 26-year-old mother, Dasiah Jordan, was arrested Monday and charged with manslaughter and second-degree child abuse; Tonya Peterson, 28, who owned the home and was allegedly babysitting at the time, faces those same charges.

The release alleges both women were "aware of the hazardous and unsafe condition in the bedroom." There had been heavy rainfall the night prior, but it's unclear whether that was the source of the basement water. Fox 2 reports it shone a light through the hole, which was intended to be covered by a vent, and saw water that it estimated as 6 inches deep. The Free-Press reports that Jordan sobbed while giving brief answers to questions during her Tuesday arraignment. (Bode Miller's wife has spoken out about her own daughter's drowning death.)

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