Manassas woman charged with child neglect

By Elisa Glushefski

Published: July 2, 2008

A 31-year-old woman was charged with four counts of child neglect stemming from the death of an infant nearly three months ago.

Melandie Hernandez of 9313 Grant Ave. in Manassas was charged Wednesday with one count for each child who was under her care at the time, said Manassas Park police.

The investigation began when police were called to a residence in Manassas Park for a report of an unresponsive infant the morning of March 19, according to police and court documents.

In an affidavit filed in Prince William County Circuit Court in March, Detective Howard M. Perry wrote that he responded to the house at 10:13 a.m. that day and was met by a “distraught woman who had an unresponsive baby at her feet.”

Perry performed CPR on the 9-month-old, who was later transported to Prince William Hospital and pronounced dead in less than an hour, the affidavit states.

The house was filthy, the affidavit states, with soiled diapers, rotten food and dead bugs covering the floor.

“The biggest thing was the current living conditions at the house,” Perry said Wednesday afternoon. “It was almost squalor. It was the worst I’ve ever seen.”

Hernandez told police that the baby appeared to be fine when she woke up, according to the affidavit.

“She stated she began to clean her house and came back into the bedroom and found the baby unresponsive and blue in the face,” Perry wrote in the affidavit.

Hernandez’s three other children — ages 1, 3 and 6 — were placed with the Department of Social Services immediately following the incident, Perry said. 

Hernandez was held in lieu of a $10,000 bond and will have a hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, police said.