NEBRASKA — On May 30, 2018, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Ashley Bean (Age 35) of rural Waverly for felony child abuse after she turned herself in at the Adult Detention Facility. The arrest stemmed from an investigation that began five months earlier.
On December 17, 2017, at approximately 8:07 AM sheriff’s deputies, Waverly Rural Fire, and Lincoln Fire and Rescue responded to Bean’s residence at 12511 Waverly Rd. on a report of a three-week-old infant who was not breathing. Upon arrival, deputies and medical personnel determined that the infant, Bean’s son, was pulseless and not breathing. Also present at the home were Bean and an adult acquaintance. The infant, who had no obvious signs of violence, was transported by ambulance to Bryan Medical Center West Campus, and then transferred to Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha, NE, where he died hours later despite life saving measures. An autopsy was performed, and the cause of death of the infant was determined to be asphyxia due to combined suffocation and overlay.
Following a lengthy investigation, sheriff’s investigators determined that Bean had become highly intoxicated during the hours immediately preceding the 911 call, fell asleep with her infant son in the same bed, and later awoke to find her son unresponsive. Based on interviews and evidence collected in this case, sheriff’s investigators believe that Bean knowingly and intentionally placed her infant son in a situation that endangered his life.
Violation of NRS 28-707, felony child abuse, is a class IIIA felony and punishable up to three years imprisonment and eighteen months post-release supervision or ten thousand dollars fine, or both.
