A 24-year-old woman turned herself in to Alsip, Illinois police after learning she had been charged in the death of her child, police said.
Tatyana Garrett is facing a first degree murder charge.
According to court documents, Garrett went missing last fall and showed up without her daughter at her mother’s home in the 11700 block of South Joalyce Drive just after 6 a.m. Oct. 22, 2021.
Garrett’s mother found her daughter barefoot, with white lips, vomit on her shirt and urine on her pants, the prosecutor said.
Her mother asked Garrett where her 22-month-old daughter was multiple times, the prosecutor said. Garrett told her mother that the toddler was downstairs. Her mother knew the child was not in the house because she was home all night, according to court documents.
When her mother asked Garrett about her shoes, Garrett answered they were in the garage, the prosecutor said. Garrett’s mother ran to the garage, where the prosecutor said she found her granddaughter unresponsive, lying on the floor of the backseat of Garrett’s car.
Garrett’s mother picked up her granddaughter and ran back into the house, telling the other children to call 911. The 911 dispatcher told the woman to start giving her granddaughter CPR until first responders arrived.
The paramedics arrived and began administering CPR on the child. The prosecutor said paramedics noticed Garrett sitting on the couch and not assisting in attempts to revive her daughter.
The child was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced deceased.
Garrett was also taken to Advocate Christ, where the prosecutor said she told a doctor that she tried to kill herself in her car while her daughter was sleeping in the back seat. Court documents said she also gave the child melatonin to help her sleep.
During their investigation, the prosecutor said Alsip police searched Garrett’s car and found a suicide note, stating: “It was just going to be me, but I couldn’t leave her behind.” A search of Garrett’s phone also revealed that she had texted friends, saying that she loved them. She had also googled how to commit suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in a car, asking how long it would take to die, whether carbon monoxide poisoning was the least painful and fastest way to die, and if it would cause long term health problems if she wasn’t successful, according to court documents.
The death investigation remained open pending autopsy results from the Cook County Medical Examiner, who attributed the cause of the child’s death to carbon monoxide poisoning and ingestion of melatonin. The death was ruled a homicide.
Carrett appeared April 8 before Cook County Judge Michael Kane granted prosecutors’ discretionary no-bail petition. Garrett is being held without bond in Cook County Jail until her next court hearing May 5 in Bridgeview.
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