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Baby's starvation death equal to torture, sheriff says

Polk County Sheriff's Office

The parents told investigators they were mixing the formula with three times as much water, meaning the child was getting only a third of the recommended amount of formula at each feeding.

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By JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2009

Updated: 11/03/2009 09:23 pm

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• Arrest shocks couple

Tivasha Logan

Chauncey Gardner

TAMPA - One photograph shows a beautiful baby girl with a fat, happy face.

Another shows a dead 5-month-old with sunken eyes. She weighed 6 pounds. Her autopsy showed no body fat.

Without being told it's the same child, you'd never be able to tell.

When Polk County investigators responded to a call Sunday about a baby not breathing at the Lakeland home of Tivasha Logan and Chauncey Gardner, they found more beer than baby food, Sheriff Grady Judd said. There only were about 2 ounces of formula inside the one can they saw.

The child, Chauntasia Gardner, was pronounced dead nine minutes after deputies arrived.
She had been starved to death by her parents, deputies say. She was in the lowest 1 percentile of weight among children her age.

Logan and Gardner were arrested Monday afternoon. They are being held without bail on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

The couple was shocked that they had been charged with a crime, Judd said.

"They couldn't see what they would do wrong," he said. "We couldn't see what they did right."

The parents had no excuse, Judd said. The other children in the home were fed, and with food stamps and other income, the couple had the ability to keep Chauntasia healthy.

The child's grandmother had been aware for weeks that the girl was sick. The grandmother told Logan to take the baby to a hospital or doctor, but Logan lied and said she did and that Chauntasia weighed 8 pounds and everything was fine, Judd said.

Logan and Gardner told investigators they didn't realize the baby's infant formula was supposed to be mixed with an equal amount of water. The formula, though, came with explicit instructions, Judd said.

The parents told investigators they were mixing the formula with three times as much water, meaning the child was getting only a third of the recommended amount of formula at each feeding.

Deputies say they aren't sure at what intervals the child was fed. The parents said they fed the child 2 ounces of formula every three or so hours.

Judd said investigators only found five soiled diapers inside the home, a remarkably low number considering the last garbage pickup had been days before.

Since the baby had left the hospital, Logan told investigators, she had tried several times to get an appointment with a doctor but failed because doctors wouldn't accept her form of Medicaid. But Logan gets government benefits and received a $674 check on Oct. 1 for Chauntasia's needs, an arrest report states.

At first, Logan told deputies she noticed Chauntasia had been sick Wednesday or Thursday, and she didn't think anything of it because the girl was always skinny, the report states. She said that Sunday morning, when she found the girl unresponsive, was the first time she noticed the girl's bones sticking out of her face.

"When asked if she thought about taking the victim to the doctor when she noticed she was losing weight, Logan reiterated she didn't think anything of it," the report states.

After the child's grandmother told deputies that Logan had known for weeks about the girl being sick, Logan told investigators that she actually noticed Chauntasia losing weight two weeks before her death.

Logan said she was scared that if she took Chauntasia to a hospital, the hospital would call the Department of Children & Families. She said she had a scheduled doctor's appointment for Monday – a day after her child died – and hoped that doctor wouldn't notify DCF about Chauntasia's condition.

The couple has three other children together – a 4-year-old boy and two girls, ages 2 and 3. Logan has two other children who live at the home, ages 6 and 10.

Those five children are now staying with a relative, and DCF will do its best to make sure they get the help they need and be able to stay together as a family, DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said.

DCF investigated Logan in four prior cases and Gardner in two of those cases, none of which involved starving children, Hoeppner said. The cases involved neglect, particularly in the supervision of children. The four investigations between 2000 and 2007 revealed some or no indications of abuse, and the children were allowed to stay with the couple.

Chauntasia was born premature on May 11 at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. She weighed 2 pounds, 11 ounces.

When she was released from the hospital July 29, she weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

When investigators saw her Sunday, Chauntasia weighed nearly 2 pounds less. She hadn't been seen from a doctor since she was discharged.

An autopsy was conducted Monday morning. With most people, there is evidence of fat in the body, Judd said. The baby had none.

"This child was tortured," he said. "This child simply wasn't fed."

A typical five-month-old female in North America on average weighs 15 pounds, said Dr. Richard Frates Jr., a pediatrician at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland.

The five month old on average drinks up to 40 ounces of formula a day, Frates said. The formula has 20 calories per ounce. A baby who is eating well would ingest an estimated 800 calories in a day, he said.

If feedings aren't going well or the baby can't finish a bottle, "that's a sign that something is wrong," Frates said.

John Livingstone, Hillsborough County Health Department's public health nutrition program director, said that typically the family of a 5-month-old baby or younger who has been approved for the WIC program receives enough formula where a parent doesn't need to buy additional formula. WIC is short for the federal program Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infant and Children.

Parents receive a WIC check or voucher that allows them to purchase two months of formula. If the child isn't well, the family may have to claim the vouchers every month. Program staff usually see the baby at the initial visit.

If the baby isn't well, an exception may be made, Livingstone said. Staff may not see the baby until he is six months old to measure, weigh and assess growth, he said.

A nutritionist usually talks to the family about the use of formula. There is also literature and the formula cans explain the proper way to mix baby formula, he said.

"If you don't follow the instruction exactly right, you are going to hurt your baby," Livingstone said.

Gardner, 27, previously was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for cocaine possession. He spent about six months behind bars and was released in July 2008.

He also spent about seven months behind bars after being convicted of fleeing law enforcement and grand theft. He was released in January 2004.

When Logan, 25, was charged Monday, she already was on weekend work release from jail. She had been arrested for driving with a suspended license, according to the jail Web site.

"This child should be alive and well … and she's dead," Judd said. "And she shouldn't be. And it makes me very, very angry."

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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