Custodial dad, step allegedly too drunk to save 18-month-old daughter after she ingested dishwashing detergent (Huntsville, Alabama)

Why was this little girl apparently in the custody of her alcoholic father and his new wife? What happened to her mother? Not one word of explanation here.

Dad is identified as KRISTOPHER JOSEPH SPEIGNER.

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/09/parents_were_too_drunk_to_help.html

Parents were too drunk to help child, who died after swallowing dishwashing detergent, Madison police say

By Paul Gattis on September 19, 2013 at 12:19 PM, updated September 19, 2013 at 2:26 PM

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- An 18-month-old girl died last year after ingesting dishwashing detergent and her parents were both too intoxicated to help her, according to court records filed today.

Kristopher Joseph Speigner, 31, and Joy Lynn Speigner, 29, were arrested this week after a year-long investigation into the Sept. 30, 2012 death of McKenzie Riegn Speigner. Both Kristopher and Joy have been charged with criminal negligent homicide.

Madison Police Capt. John Stringer said the crime of criminally negligent homicide is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in jail.

In a Sept. 9 affidavit that was filed today in Madison County District Court, Madison Police Sgt. Drew Westrope testified that the girl swallowed dishwashing detergent that was in tablet form at an apartment on Colonial Lake Drive in Madison.

Her father and her stepmother, both of whom have an Enterprise address, "did not seek medical help" for the child "due to (their) state of intoxication, which was the result of ingesting pharmaceutical medication and drinking alcohol," according to the affidavits filed in each case.

Police received a call for an unresponsive child on Sept. 30, 2012 and her parents, Kristopher and Joy Speigner, told police that the child had ingested a toxic substance.

Kristopher was arrested on Monday and Joy turned herself in to police on Tuesday.