Former day care owner to spend 20 years in prison for 16-month-old’s death
DANVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — The former owner of a Plainfield in-home day care will spend 20 years in prison in connection to the death of 16-month-old girl who was in her care.
Melanie Messer, 45, was sentenced Thursday in Hendricks Superior Court 5. She pleaded guilty April 4 to aggravated battery in the death of Andi Arnett.
Just before 4 p.m. Aug. 8, 2016, authorities said, the child was found unresponsive in her Plainfield home. Messer later turned herself in to authorities. Arnett’s death was ruled a homicide on Oct. 5, 2016, by the Marion County Coroner’s Office.
Arnett suffered a massive brain hemorrhage along with hemorrhages to her optic nerves and retinas in both eyes, according to court records. The girl was under the custody of her grandfather and step-grandmother.
Plainfield police had said Messer likely caused or lied about what caused the injuries to the girl. According to court records, Messer told investigators, “I swear on my life that I would never harm a child…”
Court records said Dr. Tara Harris, a child abuse pediatrician at Riley Hospital for Children, had told authorities that “Andi’s injuries are characteristic of Abusive Head Trauma. Her head injury would have result from an acceleration-deceleration mechanism and it would have required an amount of force that a reasonable caretaker would have recognized as dangerous to a small child. Her neurological (sic) injury is devastating.”
Arnett died at the hospital three days later after having surgery to relieve pressure on her brain.
The court gave Messer a 30-year sentence with Indiana Department of Correction, but suspended 10 of the 30 years. Other counts against Messer were dismissed as part of the plea deal. She will spend 10 years on probation once released from prison, and can have no contact with anyone younger than 15 unless it is a family member and the child’s parents have given their consent.
