A Kentucky grand jury has declined to indict a grandmother in the hot-car death of her infant granddaughter.
Dr. Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, will not face criminal charges for the August 13 death of 10-month-old Scottie Gwyn Crowell in Madisonville, Hopkins County Attorney Hannah Kington-Jarvis announced. The prosecutor said authorities deliberately delayed presenting the case until every piece of evidence could be gathered for the panel’s review.
“The Madisonville Police Department conducted a thorough and objective investigation. The Commonwealth waited to present this case to the Grand Jury until all relevant evidence was available for the Grand Jury to consider,” Kington-Jarvis said in a written release.
The baby’s parents, Sydni and Micah Crowell, were kept informed throughout the investigation, according to Kington-Jarvis. The prosecutor urged the public to remember the family still grieving their loss.
“I would ask that you keep the infant’s parents and family in your thoughts and prayers as they continue to grieve and process this imaginable loss,” she said.
Fazenbaker had picked up the child that morning with the stated intention of dropping her at daycare on her commute to Owensboro Health Multicare, where she worked as a physician. The grandmother apparently drove directly to her workplace without leaving the baby, leaving her strapped in the vehicle as outdoor temperatures climbed to 95 degrees.
The lapse went undetected for roughly eight hours. The alarm was raised only when Micah Crowell arrived at the daycare to collect his daughter and discovered she had never been dropped off. Scottie’s mother, who is Fazenbaker’s daughter, then telephoned her own mother to determine what had happened.
Fazenbaker rushed to her vehicle around 4 p.m. And found the baby unresponsive inside. Emergency personnel who responded were unable to revive the child.
The case had been presented to the grand jury after the multi-month police inquiry, with prosecutors seeking direction on whether criminal liability attached to the grandmother’s actions. The panel’s decision to issue no indictment effectively ends the possibility of a criminal trial over the death.
Hot-car fatalities involving forgotten children have drawn increasing national scrutiny, though prosecutorial outcomes vary widely depending on circumstances, intent evidence, and jurisdiction. Some cases result in murder or manslaughter charges where investigators establish negligence rose to criminal levels; others conclude without charges when authorities determine the lapse was a genuine, if catastrophic, memory failure without aggravating factors.
Kington-Jarvis did not detail what specific evidence the grand jury weighed or what factors influenced its determination. The prosecutor also did not indicate whether any civil proceedings might follow the criminal decision.
The August 13 incident unfolded on a day when the heat index in western Kentucky compounded the danger of enclosed vehicle interiors, where temperatures can surge well beyond outdoor readings within minutes. Scottie had been entrusted to her grandmother’s care for the morning routine that ended in tragedy.
Fazenbaker has not spoken publicly about the case or the grand jury’s decision.