ST. CLOUD, Fla. – An Osceola County stepmother has been charged in the death of a 5-year-old boy who drowned on her property over two months ago.
Deputies responded to a home around 5:30 p.m. on North Kenansville Road in St. Cloud on Oct. 11. When deputies arrived, they found a 5-year-old “unresponsive, naked, and covered in mud.”
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According to an arrest report, Cheyenne Star Fite was in charge of watching the boy and his two siblings, ages 3 and 5, and told deputies that she allowed them to play in the muddy yard since there was no electricity. She described the yard as having several ankle-deep puddles due to a recent storm.
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Fite told detectives that she turned her back for five minutes to fold clothes inside the trailer when she heard one of the children yell that the boy was “under the water.” Fite did not believe the child initially and continued with her task. She later found the child in a manmade hole underneath “dirty and muddy water.” After pulling the boy out, she yelled for help and her mother (who lives in a trailer on the property) came to assist before they eventually called 911, the report states.
Fite said that same day, a family friend dug a deep hole to drain water on the property. According to the report, the manmade hole where the boy drowned appeared to be full of run-off water from a nearby pig pen. Deputies said the water had a strong odor and was full of fecal matter and urine.
Deputies interviewed the boy’s father who said he was working at the time of the incident and was suspicious Fite was not properly providing supervision of his son at the time. He was also unaware of the hole.
According to the report, deputies found several items in the trailer that were considered hazardous for children to play around, including knives, rusted metal, rat/livestock feces, and scrap metal pieces.
During an interview with law enforcement, Fite said the hole was a few feet away from the trailer, when in fact it was approximately a football field away. With the view being obstructed, it was unlikely that Fite had proper supervision of the children at the time, the report states.
In a separate interview with deputies, one of the children said her mother left the boy who drowned outside naked as a form of punishment because he had hurt a chicken earlier that day. According to the affidavit, the child also advised that Fite was inside sleeping when the drowning occurred.
The affidavit also states that Fite caused the death of the 5-year-old by culpable negligence when she failed to provide the child with care and supervision.
Fite was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and was booked in the Osceola County jail on no bond.
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