Mom, boyfriend arrested in deaths of baby, 1-year-old in car in Rocky Mount, police say
A woman and her boyfriend were arrested in the deaths of her baby and 1-year-old child who were found unconscious in a parked car Saturday morning, North Carolina police said.
Rocky Mount police charged Zharia Noel and Ahmene Butler, both 21, with two counts each of involuntary manslaughter and felony child abuse, according to a Rocky Mount Police Department news release on Sunday.
Noel and Butler were released from custody on $100,000 bail, police said. They will appear in court at the Edgecombe County Courthouse in Tarboro.
Police said more charges are pending the results of an autopsy by the North Carolina Medical Examiner’s office.
On Saturday, police called the deaths of the siblings “suspicious.”
Officers found the siblings in the 900 block of Drew Street after responding to a 911 call at 9:20 a.m., according to police.
First responders took the siblings to UNC Nash Healthcare, where both were pronounced dead, police said.
Police did not say how the siblings died. The medical examiner’s office is investigating the cause of their deaths, according to police.
The Rocky Mount Police Department’s criminal investigation division and the Department of Social Services also are investigating the circumstances of the siblings’ deaths.
Police urged anyone with information about the deaths to call them at 252-972-1411, or Twin County Crime Stoppers at 252-977-1111.
Rocky Mount lies along the Tar River east of Interstate 95 in Edgecombe and Nash counties, nearly 60 miles northeast of Raleigh and 225 miles from Charlotte.
This story was originally published April 23, 2022 at 6:36 PM with the headline "Mom, boyfriend arrested in deaths of baby, 1-year-old in car in Rocky Mount, police say."