A Mississippi mother has been arrested on a felony child abuse charge after she allegedly gave her 10-year-old daughter pills to take in an apparent suicide pact between the two.
Law enforcement in Huntsville, Ala. served a felony search warrant on the home of Brittney Leigh Hensley, 37, two months after the warrant was issued in Ocean Springs in September. In July, Hensley fled when police responded to a medical emergency at the Studio 6 motel in Ocean Springs, where Hensley and her daughter had been living.
“She had this suicide pact with her daughter, and the daughter took the pills, but [Hensley] didn’t,” Ocean Springs Police Chief Ryan Lemaire told Biloxi Sun Herald. “So, the momma started freaking out when her daughter didn’t wake up.”
The girl was treated at a local hospital after the incident. When she regained consciousness, the daughter told police about the suicide pact her mother had made with her and that Hensley didn’t follow through with the morbid agreement. Before a scheduled meeting with police investigators and Child Protection Services, Hensley had left the area.
A public alert was issued by Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers to be on the lookout for Hensley, but she was tracked down in Alabama where she had relatives.
Hensley was extradited to Mississippi after her arrest on October 15 and is being held on a $500,000 bond in the Jackson County Detention Center.
