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Oct 31, 2024

Toddler Drowned in Tub While Caretaker Allegedly Talked on the Phone: Police

Nova Lei Bryant's family is remembering the toddler, as her foster mother now faces charges GoFundMe A toddler girl who drowned in a bathtub is being remembered as “a sweet little angel” as her foster

Nova Lei Bryant's family is remembering the toddler, as her foster mother now faces charges

GoFundMe

A toddler girl who drowned in a bathtub is being remembered as “a sweet little angel” as her foster mother now faces a felony neglect charge after police allege she confessed to leaving the child alone in the water for 30 minutes.

Hailynn Volpatti, 25, was arrested after investigators discovered she'd allegedly left her 21-month-old foster daughter Nova Lei Bryant “unattended for more than 30 minutes while she was on the phone in an upstairs bedroom talking to a friend” and then lied to police about the May 21 incident, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

Nova’s grandmother Carri L. Nauman wrote in a GoFundMe post that the girl died on June 26. According to the probable cause affidavit, the child died weeks after the bathtub incident, which took place at the suspect's home in Brazil, Ind.

Volpatti called 911 after returning to the family’s bathroom and discovering her foster daughter “floating in the bathwater on her back, with only a small portion of her nose above water,” the affidavit alleges.

An officer responding to the scene performed CPR and was able to find a “faint pulse,” according to the affidavit. Subsequently, the officer rushed the girl to the hospital.

Volpatti initially told police she'd left Nova in the bathtub with the girl's twin 4-year-old brothers — Volpatti’s biological children — for a matter of minutes while she went to get a drink in another room, according to the affidavit.

But two days later, after police requested a meeting with a friend of Volpatti’s, the foster mother came to the Brazil Police Department and allegedly admitted that she lied, telling investigators that she instead had an extended phone conversation with a friend upstairs while the three young children were left alone in the bathtub, according to the affidavit.

On the GoFundMe page, Nauman, Nova's grandmother, wrote, "My precious little angel will not be forgotten."

The Clay County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on the case when reached by PEOPLE.

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Nova’s birth mother Celena Conkright told WRTV that her daughter was born with complications requiring a feeding tube and that Indiana Department of Child Services removed the child from her custody after two months because Conkright says she has ADHD and the department claimed she “wasn’t capable of taking care of” Nova.

“They said I wasn’t learning fast enough,” the toddler's biological mother told the outlet.

“I’m mad, sad,” Conkright said. “I think it’s crazy.”

PEOPLE reached out to Indiana DCS for comment but did not immediately receive a response Tuesday morning. A spokesperson for the Indiana DCS told WRTV its office “investigated” the incident and is “taking action” by removing Volpatti’s foster license.

If you suspect 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. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.