LAKEWAY, Texas — New details have been revealed about a Lakeway woman arrested last week following the death of a young girl she was supposedly planning to adopt.
According to an affidavit, a 6-year-old girl drowned on Nov. 1, 2023, after she was found seizing in a bathtub in a home on Sunrise Ridge Cove.
The affidavit states that then-40-year-old Chelsye Reagan Witcher called for assistance after claiming her “soon-to-be-adopted daughter” was found convulsing in the tub.
Witcher told the Lakeway Police Department that she left the child alone in the tub while she went to do laundry when she heard a “thump” from the bathroom.
She claimed she then came upstairs to find the girl convulsing in the water before removing her from the bathtub, where the child continued to convulse for roughly 30 seconds before she stopped breathing. Witcher said she called 9-1-1 and conducted CPR until police and first responders arrived.
The child was then taken by a flight to Dell Children’s Hospital, where she appeared to suffer “irreversible damage,” according to the affidavit. She died the next day on Nov. 2.
Investigators said Witcher’s clothes, the bathtub and the floor didn’t appear very wet. They also said Wticher allegedly made a fist with her hands when describing the thumping sound. Still, Witcher did not mention anything particularly concerning leading up to the incident.
Upon further investigation, police found six Ring cameras on the property- one outside and five inside. Police said one of the cameras was inactive and placed in a bedroom drawer. When they returned, they said it was no longer there.
Law enforcement received a few videos from Witcher, and eventually obtained others by obtaining a search warrant for her Ring camera history.
Witcher claimed leading up to the event, the young girl urinated on herself after getting upset about “puzzle time.” She said the water was filled several inches below the top of the bath, and that she didn’t remember draining it out.
However, according to the affidavit, the video revealed otherwise. The Ring camera footage allegedly showed a child locked in her room with a short “bathroom break” of only two minutes and no food for six hours. The child also asked to use the restroom and urinated on herself.
The affidavit claims the girl was forced to run on the treadmill before the bath, and Witcher yelled at her to lie down in the tub and held her there for 41 seconds. The affidavit also stated Witcher did not call the police until 15 minutes after she found the child unresponsive.
Other children in the home claimed the young girl was on a diet and had to eat meals in her bedroom. They also stated a Ring camera was set up in the bathroom to watch the child. Medical records also showed no reason to be concerned about seizures.
Witcher eventually admitted to holding the child underwater and pushing her down, stating she “lost her cool.” She also said she removed the Ring camera that was previously placed in the bathroom and hid it in her vehicle.
The affidavit said the child died by drowning by homicide.
Witcher was arrested Friday in Austin, where she’s held in the Travis County Jail for charges of Injury to a Child and Tampering with or Fabricating Physical Evidence.