A mother in Indiana has been accused of leaving her 1-year-old son, Isais Pascual-Hernandez, for seven hours in an “unsafe” sleeping environment, leading him to suffocate on his bedding and die.
Evansville Police Department officers and emergency medical personnel reported to an apartment after they received a report of a “medical emergency” at 4:22 p.m. on November 14, 2025, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law & Crime.
The 1-year-old’s mother, Amirah Eziah Moodie, told the dispatcher that she was “unable to wake up her 15-month-old child” and said that “he was stiff.”
When they arrived at the home, first responders found the boy on the floor near the entryway and began to perform lifesaving measures. However, police wrote in the affidavit that the boy “was beyond help.”
Officers then detained Moodie, 25, and the boy’s father, and they were transported to police headquarters for questioning.
Police noted that the home was “extremely messy” and had food, trash and cat feces scattered across the floor. Meanwhile, Isais’ bedroom had a Pack ‘n Play crib in the middle of the room with “an oversized mattress placed inside.”
“The mattress went from one end of the Pack ‘n Play stretching across to the other end,” the affidavit stated. “The excess was folded and wedged against the side of the Pack ‘n Play making an L-shape. An oversized waterproof sheet was located inside the Pack ‘n Play and collected. The sheet was lined with an impermeable rubber-type backing. The sheet was unsafe and created a suffocation hazard.”
While speaking to investigators, Moodie said she put Isais down at about 6 p.m. and he slept until 6 a.m. the following morning. The boy’s father left for work soon after, and Moodie said she woke up around 6 a.m. and took a THC gummy because she was “stressed about finances.”
She added that her son was “more energetic lately” and was constantly “getting into things.” However, she said he appeared tired on the day of his death. She said she put him in the Pack ‘n Play with a bottle at about 9 a.m. and insisted “he did not fight the nap.” She then went to her room, where she slept for several hours.
Isais’ father later came home from work at 2 p.m. and fell asleep in the bedroom, and Moodie said the boy was still asleep at the time. She added that she wasn’t worried about it because he would sometimes sleep “longer than expected.”
Moodie told authorities that she got out of bed between 3 and 4 p.m. and went to check on her son, where she found him motionless.
“[Moodie] saw the black sheet was wrapped around his head a few times (two or three) and [Moodie] struggled to unwrap his head. [Moodie] stated Isais had marks on his neck and his lips were blue,” the affidavit said. “[Moodie] stated the fitted sheet is bigger than the mattress so she tries to tuck in but he does pull it off often.”
An autopsy was performed on Isais, and his cause of death was determined to be “asphyxia due to suffocation by bedding (unsafe sleep), with possible contribution by ligature strangulation.”
Moodie is currently being held in the Vanderburgh County Jail without bond, according to online records viewed by Us Weekly.
She made her initial appearance in court on Monday, March 9, and is scheduled to return to court on March 26.
It is not currently clear if Moodie has entered a plea or retained legal representation. The Evansville Police Department did not immediately respond to Us’ request for comment.
