A court petition alleges the baby had been unresponsive for some time before her mother drove her to a Nebraska hospital.
ALLIANCE, Neb. — When Alyssa Parkins brought her 9-month-old daughter to a western Nebraska hospital, she told authorities that the baby had choked on a cracker and was later found unresponsive. Investigators say another child in the home described a far different sequence of events.
That conflicting account has become a central part of the criminal case against Parkins, 27, who is accused of holding a blanket over the infant’s head while the baby cried. The Box Butte County Sheriff’s Office arrested Parkins on four felony counts, including intentional child abuse resulting in death and strangulation resulting in death. She also faces two counts of intentional child abuse not resulting in injury or death. The charges are allegations, and Parkins is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.
The case began on June 22, when Parkins and her boyfriend, who was identified in local reporting as the baby’s father, arrived at Box Butte General Hospital with the child. Deputies were dispatched to the medical center that evening after the infant died. Parkins told investigators that the girl had choked on a cracker earlier in the day, according to court records cited by Nebraska news organizations. Parkins reportedly said she had been able to clear most of the cracker but later discovered that the child was not responding.
Authorities said Parkins did not call 911 or ask emergency medical workers to come to the camper. She called the hospital and then traveled there with the baby. Medical staff attempted life-saving measures, but the child was already dead. Public reports do not state precisely how much time passed between the moment Parkins said she found the infant unresponsive and the family’s arrival at the hospital. That timeline is likely to be important as investigators examine whether emergency care was delayed and whether the initial explanation matched the child’s condition.
The hospital examination produced concerns that extended beyond the reported choking. A court petition described dirt on the girl’s hands and feet so heavy that they appeared almost black. It also said the infant had areas of dry, scaly or dead skin covering her scalp. Those conditions did not, by themselves, determine the cause of death. They did, however, lead investigators to question how the child had been cared for and what conditions existed at the place where she lived. The sheriff’s office said its initial investigation uncovered numerous concerns that required a more extensive inquiry.
Investigators then received an account attributed to Parkins’ son. According to the court petition, the boy said Parkins placed a blanket over the baby’s head and held it down while the infant was crying loudly. He allegedly said the baby was already dead well before the trip to the hospital. His reported statement directly challenged the claim that the child had choked on a cracker and was found unresponsive later. Officials have not released a recording or transcript of the interview, and the boy’s age has not been made public in the reports reviewed.
The child also allegedly spoke about how discipline was handled in the home. Prosecutors wrote that he said Parkins spanked him and the infant. That information contributed to the child-abuse investigation, though officials have not publicly laid out which alleged acts support each of the two counts that did not result in injury or death. Those counts are separate from the charges tied directly to the infant’s death. The lack of full charging documents leaves some details unresolved, including whether both additional counts concern the same child, different children or separate alleged incidents.
A search of the family’s fifth-wheel camper added another layer to the inquiry. Authorities said the camper had no running water and contained little food. Investigators also reported finding dogs in a bathroom with animal feces. The public descriptions do not state when the water stopped working, how many dogs were present or whether the living conditions had previously been reported to any agency. Prosecutors may seek to use the state of the camper as evidence about the children’s treatment, while the defense would be able to challenge the accuracy, relevance and interpretation of those observations.
Parkins was arrested July 1, nine days after deputies were called to the hospital. The sheriff’s office announced that investigators had worked with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol and Alliance Police Department. Officials said the case remained active, indicating that additional interviews, medical testing or forensic review could still be underway. Authorities have not publicly released a final autopsy report for the 9-month-old, and the available reports do not identify a medical examiner’s formal conclusion about the precise mechanism of death.
The intentional child abuse resulting in death count is a Class IB felony. According to the sheriff’s office, a conviction carries a mandatory minimum term of 20 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Strangulation resulting in death is charged as a Class IIA felony, while the two other child-abuse counts are Class IIIA felonies. The sentencing ranges describe possible punishment only after a conviction; they do not show that the allegations have been established.
Investigators were also aware that another infant daughter of Parkins had died four years earlier in a separate criminal case. On June 19, 2022, 10-month-old M.L. died while in the care of her father, Riley Lenhart. Parkins was at work at the time, according to a Nebraska Supreme Court opinion. A forensic pathologist found injuries to the child’s neck and concluded that she had died from ligature strangulation. Lenhart was charged and later convicted of intentional child abuse resulting in death.
At Lenhart’s trial, prosecutors presented evidence that he had been alone with M.L. and her brother. Lenhart told police he fed the children, put the boy back to bed and left the baby on the floor while he took a shower. He said that when he returned, M.L. was not breathing. He contacted Parkins, and she called 911. Emergency workers could not revive the child. Following a four-day trial, the jury convicted Lenhart, and he was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison.
The Nebraska Supreme Court affirmed Lenhart’s conviction in October 2024 after reviewing his claim that an unsolicited comment from a trial witness had unfairly influenced the jury. The justices found that the trial court’s response was sufficient and that any related error was harmless. That ruling supplies a confirmed judicial record of the earlier death, but it does not prove any element of the case now pending against Parkins. Prosecutors must establish the new accusations using evidence specific to the 2026 investigation.
Key parts of the present case remain unavailable to the public, including a full medical report, the complete witness interviews and Parkins’ detailed response to the allegations. The reviewed sources also did not establish whether she had entered a plea or identify an attorney speaking on her behalf. Until those proceedings occur, the accounts in the court petition represent the prosecution’s allegations rather than proven findings. The sheriff’s office has said its investigation remains ongoing.
Author note: Last updated July 31, 2026.