7-month-old girl dies after she was left overnight at an unlicensed daycare at Army housing facility in Hawaii

7-month-old girl dies after she was left overnight at an unlicensed daycare at Army housing facility in Hawaii

A 7-month-old girl died at a Hawaii daycare facility located at an Army housing facility in Hawaii which also had several other children under its care. The infant, identified only as Abigail, was found dead at an unlicensed daycare facility located at the Aliamanu Military Reservation in Honolulu on the morning of Sunday, February 24.

According to Stars and Stripes, Abigail was placed in the daycare facility alongside an older sibling for an overnight stay on February 23. She passed away the next morning. The Honolulu Police Department has opened an "unintended death" investigation into the incident, though Michelle Yu, the department spokeswoman, said there were "no suspicious circumstances or evidence of foul play at this time." The cause of the infant's death has not been reported as yet

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Abigail died at the unlicensed daycare facility this past week (Source: GoFundMe)
Abigail died at the unlicensed daycare facility this past week (Source: GoFundMe)

However, Katie Camario, who lived next door to the daycare facility, said the death could have been prevented. She said there were plenty of signs that indicated the daycare facility was not suited to looking after children, and that despite raising an issue with the army housing authority and the military police, the daycare remained open.

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Camario described some of the disturbing incidents she witnessed at the house, including how she often saw wailing unattended children, children chasing each other with large sticks, and a screaming child's head caught in playground equipment.

In a complaint she filed under the military's Interactive Customer Evaluation, which is meant to be brought to the attention of the commander of Army Garrison Hawaii, she detailed a "most alarming incident" from January. She wrote about how she heard a child's voice yell 'Fire! Fire!' and that when she went to check, she saw a four or five-year-old boy with a long lighter trying to light the netting of a trampoline. She said a toddler who looked about one then got the lighter and put it in his mouth.

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Police say there are no suspicious circumstances around the infant's death (Source: GoFundMe)
Police say there are no suspicious circumstances around the infant's death (Source: GoFundMe)

Camario called the military police on that occasion, but having responded at the home, nothing was done. The daycare reportedly remained open despite several similar raids as well, according to Stars and Stripes.

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The facility had been on the receiving end of a cease-and-desist in April 2018 and then forcibly shut down by military police on February 21, days before Abigail's death. 

In a town hall meeting following the infant's passing, Camario and other neighbors criticized army officials for their inaction. "If you all knew for the span of over a year now that this had been going on at this home, why did you let it go on for this long?" she was quoted saying. 

A GoFundMe page described the infant as "full of life" and someone who "loved all your attention, had the biggest smile with eyes that could light up a room." It has been set up to help raise money for Abigail's funeral as well as legal fees that the parents plan to use to obtain a lawyer. The page has raised $3,110 of a possible $10,000 goal at the time of writing.

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 7 month old girl dies unlicensed daycare facility Army housing facility Hawaii