Daycare Owner Deborah Lundstrom Charged After Child Left Unsupervised Dies: Police

Deborah Lundstrom, 47, ran the daycare out of her home in Springfield, which is where police say they found an 8-month-old baby boy not breathing after a 911 call on March 2.

Police say home security footage shows Lundstrom had left the home at 2:28 PM in her car to go pick a another child up from a local high school, returning to the house at 2:40 PM.

They say that while she was gone, she left all nine children in her bedroom: two of them roaming free, while the remaining seven were strapped into their child restraint car seats.

“Lundstrom stated that [the victim] was still in his car seat, as she had left him, but was limp when removing him from the seat,” the police report obtained by KY3 states.

Lundstrom didn’t initially realize anything was wrong, and began changing the baby’s soiled diaper. Then she realized he wasn’t breathing. She called the baby’s mother and 911.

When paramedics arrived, the found the child had suffered a line of bruising to the front of his neck.

He was rushed to hospital, but later died there.

An autopsy by the Greene County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was asphyxiation; the doctor said the car seat chest clip may have prevented the infant from breathing.

The doctor added that it did not appear the baby died as the result of an assault.

“Lundstrom alleged she did not have any knowledge of what had possibly occurred in the room while she was gone,” the police report states.

She also told investigators her 18-year-old daughter was home during that time; However, the teen told officers she had gone to a park with her boyfriend, and was not at the house.

Lundstrom faces charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death, and eight counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

She is also charged with operating a child care facility without a license; in the state of Missouri, a license is not needed to operate a daycare — as long as you are only looking after six kids or less.