LAKELAND -- Two people were arrested Monday after detectives said they starved their infant daughter to death.

According to reports, deputies came to the Lakeland home of 25-year-old Tivasha Logan and 27-year-old Chauncey Gardner just after 6 a.m. Sunday after someone called to report that 5-month-old Chauntasia was not breathing.

Rescue crews also came to the home, and they pronounced the baby dead at 6:11 a.m.

Detectives said the refrigerator and cupboards of the home were stocked with food, but there was only a single partially filled can of baby formula in the home.

The couple has three other children - a 4-year-old boy, a 3-year-old girl and a 2-year-old girl - that lived in the house with them. In addition, Logan has two additional children - a 10-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl - who also lived in the house.

Detectives asked Logan and Gardner to describe the way they had fed the little girl, and they told them they had fed her two ounces of formula every three to three-and-a-half hours. They said they mixed one-and-a-half ounces of water with a half-ounces of formula. The instructions on the can indicated that the formula be mixed with water in equal parts.

Detectives said they determined the baby was only receiving one-third of the recommended amount of formula at each feeding.

According to medical records, the little girl was born premature and underweight in May. She was not discharged from the hospital until July, when she was about 2 months old and weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces.  

According to the autopsy report, the little girl weighed 6 pounds when she died.  She had not seen a doctor since she had been discharged in July.

Gardner and Logan were arrested and charged with felony murder and aggravated child abuse. They were booked into the Polk County Jail, where they are being held without bond.

Information from News 13’s Bright House Networks affiliate, Bay News 9, was used in this report.

Comment On This Story