Mum on Facebook while baby drowned in bathtub

Cheyenne Stuckey has been arrested and charged with injury to a child in the June 13 drowning death of her 8-month-old daughter.

Authorities in Texas say a woman was chatting on Facebook Messenger last week while her eight-month-old daughter drowned in a bathtub, where she had been left unattended and forgotten.

Cheyenne Stuckey, of Azle, Texas, was booked into the Parker County Jail on Wednesday on one count of injury to a child stemming from the tragic incident that took place a week earlier.

Stuckey, who has four children, told investigators with the Parker County Sheriff's Office that on June 13, she placed her youngest daughter, Zayla Hernandez, in the tub with the water running and left her unsupervised 'for only a couple of minutes.'

When she went to check on the baby later, she found Zayla floating face-down in the water, reported CBS DFW.

Stuckey told officials she tried to revive her baby but 'did not know how.'
Deputies responded to Stuckey's home in the 1500 block of Reno Road after getting a report of an unresponsive child, reports the Daily Mail.

Paramedics who were also summoned to the scene attempted to perform CPR on the infant, but to no avail. Zayla was then rushed to a hospital in Azle, where she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy later determined the eight-month-old died as a result of drowning.

When questioned by deputies, Stuckey reportedly said that after running a bath for Zayla, she became 'distracted' by another child and then went on Facebook Messenger, with a television playing loudly in the background.

An investigation has found that the 21-year-old woman had been on Facebook Messenger with two people for at least 18 minutes while her daughter was alone in the tub, according to the sheriff's office.

In the wake of baby Zayla's death, Stuckey's three surviving children, including her four-year-old twins and 2-year-old son, have been removed from her care and placed in a foster home.

A GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help the family pay Zayla's final expenses. As of Thursday afternoon, $125 has been raised.