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'Multitude of drugs' contribute to drowning of Palm Bay girl, police say

A Palm Bay babysitter charged this week in the drowning of a 5-year-old had allegedly been smoking marijuana, when the girl fell into the pool at a Knecht Road home, investigators said.
The night before the Nov. 25 drowning, Jacqueline Chiara Bjorndal, 22, had gone to a party, where she was drinking and used “a multitude of drugs,” including marijuana and methamphetamine, a Palm Bay police report said.

PALM BAY, Fla. — Bjorndal asked the victim's mother if the girl, Aubrey Alcott, could sleep over at her house with her and her roommate's child, investigators said.

The 5-year-old’s mother agreed, “unaware of the amount of narcotics that the defendant ingested,” the police report said.
The next morning, Bjorndal allegedly smoked more marijuana, police said.
“This is just a real tragic situation. Even with prosecutors that have been doing this a long time, sometimes we see situations where we just have to shake our heads,” said Assistant State Attorney Gary Beaty.

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“This is just a real tragic situation. Even with prosecutors that have been doing this a long time, sometimes we see situations where we just have to shake our heads,” said Assistant State Attorney Gary Beaty.

While Bjorndal and Alcott were upstairs watching a movie, the girl asked if she could go into the backyard to pet a caged pig, investigators said.

“The defendant stated that she felt that it was OK for the victim to go outside by herself, because she was extremely independent and self-sufficient,” the police report said.

Less than 10 minutes later, Bjorndal realized that the 5-year-old wasn’t answering when she called, and she went to find her.

When she couldn’t find the girl at the pig’s pen, she started searching the neighborhood for her, not realizing the girl was in the pool, police said.

It was 20 minutes later when another roommate, a man, came home that Alcott was found floating unresponsive in the pool, investigators said. The man said at first he didn’t know a child was in the pool because the water was so dark and murky.

The 5-year-old was flown to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, police said.

“She (Bjorndal) did not keep an eye on the child who ended up falling in a partially full pool and drown,” Beaty said.

Along with the alleged drug use, investigators said the general conditions in the backyard of the home were not safe for a young child, and she never should have been allowed to go outside by herself. Police said it was a filthy, moldy and hazardous backyard.

“The house does not have a sliding glass door (but) instead has a piece of wood propped up to cover half of the doorway,” the Palm Bay police report said. “The area surrounding the pool had several coiled hoses that were strewn about, and there were tools and large pieces of equipment on the patio, which could be a hazard for a child to be by herself.”

The little girl’s mother told police that she told Bjorndal not to let her child into the backyard because she couldn’t swim, investigators said.

Bjorndal was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated manslaughter by neglect of a child.

She was being held without bond at the Brevard County Detention Center.

Cox Media Group

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