A 1-year-old "acting like a junkie."
A 3-week-old girl choking and turning "bluish gray," but not receiving medical attention from their meth-smoking parents.
These are some of the chilling allegations in court paperwork against Jeremiah and Adrienne Outland, a Phoenix couple arrested at their home yesterday following a months-long police investigation.
Authorities became aware of the suspected abuse only after the 3-week-old girl died.
The day before the girl's death, on March 31, both Adrienne and Jeremiah had noticed 3-week-old Cheyanne having trouble breathing and turning shades of blue, court records state.
On the same day, Adrienne also saw that 1-year-old Danielle, Cheyanne's older sister, was "chewing on her hand and was acting like a junkie." Adrienne detailed her concerns to her husband, mother and sister-in-law in text messages obtained by police. But she didn't call for help.
Jeremiah came home from work about midnight that night. "He stayed up with Danielle trying to calm her because she had gotten into something. He believed it was methamphetamines," records state.
Still, police say, the couple did nothing to help their kids. Yet the couple's home near 27th Avenue and Northern is right across the street from a fire department.
The next day, Cheyanne was found dead. Paramedics called to the house examined the other two kids, Caleb, 5, and Danielle. The 1-year-old girl had an infected burn on her hand, which a doctor later identified as a chemical burn. Tests showed the girl had meth in her system.
Both parents reportedly admitted to police that they smoked meth often with the kids in the home. One parent would typically smoke up in the bathroom as another watched the three kids, the couple told police.
Police aren't yet saying if they believe Cheyanne died from meth, or if the baby tested positive for the drug. But Adrienne admitted to cops that she should have called 911 the day before, and that "if she had, maybe things would be different and Cheyanne might be alive."
Why didn't they call 911, (besides the obvious answer that their judgment might have been impaired)?
Jeremiah reportedly told police he didn't think rescuers could have helped with the kids.
During a search of the Outland's home, records state, police found meth and heroin residue throughout the house and on the kids' crib, play-table and car-seat carrier.
The couple was booked into the Maricopa County jail and await court proceedings. Police seek five counts of child abuse for each parent.
