Mom gave her 10-year-old daughter pills and then broke the ‘suicide pact’: police

Brittney Leigh Hensley was arrested in Alabama and extradited to Mississippi to face child abuse charges

• Police responded to a report of a child overdosing on pills at an extended-stay motel in Ocean Springs, Missouri, on July 6

• During the months-long investigation, the girl’s mother, Brittney Leigh Hensley, allegedly fled to Alabama, where she was apprehended on October 15.

• According to authorities, Hensley claimed she was also taking large amounts of medication, but blood test results did not support her story

A Mississippi mother was accused of making a suicide pact with her young daughter, then having her 10-year-old take pills even though she didn’t keep the pact herself, Ocean Springs Deputy Police Chief Steven Dye tells PEOPLE.

According to her online information, 37-year-old Brittney Leigh Hensley was arrested by Ocean Springs police and charged with child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. reservation record. On Tuesday, October 29, she was booked into the Jackson County Adult Detention Center in Pascagoula, Missouri, where she is being held on $500,000 bail.

The case did not go to a grand jury, PEOPLE has learned.

“It’s very tragic,” Dye tells PEOPLE in a telephone interview, noting that police intend to present a strong case to the local district attorney’s office. “These are cases that we wish had never happened, but at least once we address these cases and apprehend the bad guy, we can hold them by their feet to the fire for what they did. This is the most important thing for us: people must be responsible for their actions.”

Dye notes that the disturbing details of a case unfolding in a quiet Mississippi beach town had a profound impact on the small seaside community. “No one wants to see a child suffer,” he says, adding that the officers involved in the case have children of their own and these types of cases “are always a little more difficult for us.”

He adds: “Any time we deal with a child in this situation, it is very difficult. It touches our hearts.”

Police first responded to a report of a child overdosing at the Studio 6 Motel in Ocean Springs on July 6 around 6:25 p.m., Police Chief Ryan Lemaire confirms to PEOPLE. When police arrived, the 10-year-old girl, whose name was not released, was unresponsive.

In the motel room, officers found “several unknown capsules and empty prescription drug bottles in a green backpack” near the child, according to Lemaire. The drugs were allegedly prescribed to Hensley.

Both mother and child were transported separately by ambulance to Ocean Springs Hospital, where doctors intubated the mother and daughter, the chief says, adding that the daughter was then flown by helicopter to American Hospital for Women and Children in Alabama for further treatment and survived.

Investigators later learned that Hensley and her daughter had made a “suicide pact” in which they both allegedly agreed to take medication, Lemaire says. The deputy police chief added that Hensley told investigators that she also took pills, specifying the amount of the drugs and the length of time she took them.

However, citing a doctor’s statement, Dye tells PEOPLE that blood tests performed on the mother during her hospitalization were not consistent with her statements to investigators. He also says the doctor concluded that if the mother’s testimony had been “true and accurate, then she would have died.”

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Exact blood test results have not been released, but Dye says her claims do not match what was found in her body.

Citing preliminary findings, Dye says investigators believe the mother chose not to follow through with the end of the suicide pact.

As the case against Hensley continues, police say she fled to Alabama, where she once lived and had family. In a message posted on Facebook on October 14, Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers announced that the mother was wanted on charges of child abuse, including poisoning a minor.

The authorities then issued a warrant for her arrest. On October 15, Huntsville police arrested her in Alabama.

She was later extradited to Mississippi. As of Oct. 31, she had not been charged and it was unclear whether Hensley had already retained a lawyer.

Lemaire says the 10-year-old is currently in the custody of Mississippi Child Protective Services.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Line to 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.