Mom Gave Pills to Daughter, 10, In Suicide Pact, Then Didn’t Follow Through with It Herself: Police

Brittney Leigh Hensley, 37, has been charged with felony child abuse causing serious bodily harm, following an incident that went down at a Studio 6 Motel back in July in Ocean Springs, MS.

According to Ocean Springs Police Chief Ryan Lemaire, via PEOPLE, police responded to a report of a child overdosing. The girl, 10, was reportedly unresponsive, and both she and her mother were taken to the hospital. In the hotel room, police allegedly found “several unknown capsules and empty prescription medication bottles in a green backpack.”

The child survived, with Hensley allegedly telling investigators the two made a “suicide pact” and she also took an amount of pills police deemed suspicious. Ocean Springs Deputy Chief of Police Steven Dye told PEOPLE that if her claims were true, “then she would have been deceased,” adding that blood work also failed to back up her assertion.

“She had this suicide pact with her daughter, and the daughter took the pills, but she (Hensley) didn’t,” Lemaire also told the Sun Herald. “So, the momma started freaking out when her daughter wouldn’t wake up.”

Per the Sun Herald, the girl also told authorities about the suicide pact.

While investigators were building a case against Hensley, she allegedly fled the state. An arrest warrant was then obtained in September, before she was arrested in Alabama — where authorities believe she has family.

Hensley was later extradited back to Mississippi and was booked into the Jackson County Jail this past Tuesday. Hensley’s being held on $500,000 bond; she has not yet been indicted.

The child, meanwhile, is reportedly in the custody of Mississippi’s Child Protective Services.

If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in distress.