LANCASTER COUNTY — An Elizabethtown woman has been charged in the death of her 4-month-old daughter, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
Candace Parrow, 23, was arrested Monday on charges of homicide, aggravated assault and strangulation.
Just after 10 p.m. on July 16, Elizabethtown Police responded to Parrow’s apartment on East Orange Street. Upon arrival, officers found a child unresponsive and discolored. According to the criminal complaint, the child had blue lips, and blood and foam coming from the mouth.
The infant was transported Hershey Medical Center and was pronounced dead about an hour later. The child’s death was ruled a homicide caused by strangulation and suffocation.
The DA’s Office said that Parrow was very distraught and made statements about being “blamed again for this” — police determined that Parrow had a previous child who died out of state. A neighbor was also at the apartment when police arrived.
Parrow told police that she put the infant down to sleep, went to another room to do dishes and returned, about 10 minutes later, to find her unresponsive, the DA’s Office stated. An investigation revealed that Parrow did not wash dishes as there were few dishes at the home and they were dirty.
The DA’s Office alleges that Parrow’s version of what took place changed during separate interviews.
According to the DA’s Office, the child’s father, Parrow’s lover, was at work from 2:30 pm. to 10:30 p.m., when he left work after being notified of the incident. His time card confirmed that he was at work during that time span.
The child’s father told authorities that he had a FaceTime conversation with Parrow about 8:30 p.m. and the child appeared health, the DA’s Office said.
He added that Parrow had previous issues with the child crying and Parrow would become very upset, the DA’s Office stated.
Police determined that Parrow had sole custody of the child after her apartment on July 16 and the child appeared healthy earlier in the evening, the DA’s Office added.
