Parents Arrested In Connection With Death of 1-Month-Old, Face Manslaughter of a Child Charge

police: showed reckless disregard for human life

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA, FLORIDA – Detectives with the Cocoa Police Criminal Investigations Division arrested the parents of a one month old baby boy who died earlier this month.

According to Cocoa Police Public Information Officer Yvonne Martinez, Superiah Campbell, 19, and Cameron Dowden, 21, each face a charge of manslaughter of a child for the May 10 death of their son.

On May 10, patrol officers and fire rescue personnel responded to a 911 call on Flower Mound Lane in the Oak Meadows Apartments. The caller said that a baby had stopped breathing and was cold to the touch.

“When rescuers arrived they attempted to revive the child through CPR and a defibrillator,” said Martinez.

“Paramedics pronounced the child deceased on scene. Detectives then began investigating the circumstances surrounding the child’s death.”

Through physical evidence, electronic evidence and statements made by the two parents detectives were able to determine the death was the result of culpable negligence.

Detectives were able to establish a timeline of at least six hours where the child was not checked on or cared for on the day he died, according to Martinez.

“By failing to check on the child for over 6 hours, the defendants consciously did an act or followed a course of conduct that they must have known, or reasonably should have known was likely to cause death or great bodily harm,” Detective Debra Titkanich wrote in the probable cause affidavit for the arrest of the two parents.

“Both parents showed a reckless disregard for human life.”

The manslaughter of a child is a second degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison if a jury finds them guilty.

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