Pagan
KINGSTON – The mother of a 10-month-old baby, who drowned in the
bathtub at their home in Marlboro, pled guilty in Ulster County Court
on Thursday to criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare
of a child.
Kayla Pagan, 26, had left her daughter, Lilliana, alone for several minutes
on the evening of July 8, 2016, while the tub was filling with water.
She left the room to attend to other matters inside and outside the house,
District Attorney Holly Carnright said.
The child’s father, Richard Ryerson, returned home to 8 Hideaway
Lane in Marlboro to find his daughter floating face down in the bathtub
full of water. He removed her, started CPR, and called 911. Efforts to
resuscitate were performed with instructions from the 911 operator but
did not save the child, who was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Cornwall
Hospital in Newburgh.
Pagan remains in the Ulster County Jail pending her sentencing in May.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant DA Emmanuel Nneji.
