Mother of 8-month-old girl, who drowned to death in a bathtub, after she strapped the girl in a booster seat and left her alone in the bathroom because she needed a break, was sentenced
Florida – In a deeply disturbing case out of Florida, a 31-year-old mother, identified as N. Laber, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after her 8-month-old daughter drowned in a bathtub while left alone, strapped into a booster seat. Laber pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child in the June 2023 death of her infant daughter—an incident that was initially covered up with a fabricated story about the child drowning in a dog bowl. The sentencing also includes 10 years of probation following her release. Laber was given credit for 669 days of time already served.
The tragedy unfolded on June 17, 2023, when Laber dialed 911 around 7:40 a.m., telling the dispatcher that her baby “had drowned in her dog’s water bowl.” First responders rushed to the home, where they found the infant unresponsive. Emergency personnel attempted life-saving efforts and transported the child to a hospital, but the baby was pronounced dead shortly after 8:28 a.m. Doctors noted water being expelled during resuscitation—confirming drowning as the likely cause.
Laber initially claimed she had left the infant unattended only for a moment after her dog and another child escaped out the front door. She told deputies it took her 2 to 3 minutes to retrieve them, and that when she returned inside, she found the baby face-down in the dog’s water bowl, which was reportedly just 10 inches wide and 5 inches deep.
Investigators, however, began to see cracks in her version of events. At the hospital, one officer observed that the baby was wearing a clean, dry diaper—a detail inconsistent with having drowned in an exposed bowl of water. More telling was the fresh linear mark on her thigh, consistent with having been strapped into something. The inconsistencies grew further at the house, where deputies noticed the bathtub was still wet and there was fecal matter near the drain. A blue infant booster seat was also found nearby.
It was Laber’s husband who first confronted her, suspecting that she was lying to police. Two days after the baby’s death, Laber came clean. In a revised statement to investigators, she admitted that she had strapped her daughter into a booster seat in the bathtub, then left the room—not for an emergency, but simply because she “needed a break.” She said she went to use the bathroom in another part of the house for some alone time.
Roughly ten minutes passed before she returned. What she found was haunting: the baby was still strapped into the seat, face-down in the water, with her head tilted toward the drain. In a panic, Laber removed her daughter from the tub and booster seat, placed the seat back against the bathroom wall, and dressed the deceased child in a fresh diaper. She then laid the baby on the couch and called 911, falsely claiming the child had drowned in the dog’s water bowl because, as she later told police, “this was the only water source that she could think of at that time.”
The court ruled her actions met the threshold for aggravated manslaughter of a child, a charge that reflects gross negligence leading to a child’s death. The sentencing brings some legal closure, but the emotional devastation remains. Now, Laber faces the consequences of a decision that claimed an innocent life. While the law has spoken, the memory of what occurred in that bathroom—of a defenseless baby left alone and a mother who chose a break over safety—will linger far beyond any prison sentence.
