A Lincoln woman is charged with felony child abuse for the January drowning death of her 2-year-old stepson, police say.
Police say Jacqueline Cooley, 28, was arrested Wednesday.
According to court documents, Cooley told investigators that on Jan. 7, she was giving the boy a bath in about 10 inches of water when she left the bathroom to get a towel to dry him off and returned to find him face down in the water and not breathing.
The child was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Cooley was previously cited for child neglect in October 2015, investigators said, after an anonymous tip revealed the children were living in “deplorable conditions and are often left unattended.”
Court documents show the Department of Health and Human Services tried to check on the home on four different occasions, but no one was home or answered the door each time.
Five other children in the home were placed in state custody.
