A child who died while in the care of a 20-year-old childcare worker has been indicted by a New Castle County Grand Jury.

Bear (DE): The Grand Jury indicted 20-year-old Dejoynay Ferguson of New Castle Monday at the New Castle County Courthouse with updated charges.

Ferguson was arrested back in September after New Castle County Paramedics found a 4-month old child unresponsive at the Little People Child Development Center in Bear.

According to a news release, “The female infant was transported by ambulance to Christiana Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.”

According to officials, The investigation, conducted by the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit, determined Ferguson was the assigned caregiver for the female victim in the Infant Room at the facility, placed her hands over the victim’s mouth and nose, and intentionally restricted her breathing until she became unresponsive.

Once becoming unresponsive, the victim was put back into a crib by Ferguson.

After approximately 20 minutes, Ferguson advised the owner of the daycare facility the victim was unresponsive, at which time 911 was called.

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“Included in the Indictment today was a single count of Murder by Abuse or Neglect, which replaced the original charge of Murder 1st Degree and forty-two counts of Child Abuse 1st Degree against the deceased victim. ,” said police spokeswoman Heather Pepper. “The time frame of the child abuse charges included in the presented Indictment ranged from July 16, 2019, thru September 5, 2019.”

Upgraded charges for Bear Daycare worker in death of 4-month-old child

“After the initial incident, the Delaware State Police Homicide Unit, identified four additional child victims, ranging in age from one month through fifteen months of age. Seven additional counts of Child Abuse 1st Degree and three counts of Child Abuse 2nd are associated with the four additional identified victims.,” Pepper said.

Dejoynay Ferguson remains in the custody of Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution.