A baby-faced Michigan mother is behind bars after her 2-year-old daughter was found dead inside a mobile home.
Paige Nichole Bohne, 21, of Columbus, is being held in the St. Joseph County Jail without bond on charges of open murder.
Officers were called to Bohne’s great-uncle’s home at Memory Lane Trailer Park in Sturgis Township, where they discovered 2-year-old Octavia unresponsive around 12:45 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Sturgis Magazine reported.
But Octavia was pronounced dead at the scene after multiple attempts to revive her failed.
Paige Nichole Bohne, 21, of Colon, Michigan, is behind bars charged with open murder without bail for killing her 2-year-old daughter, Octavia.
Two-year-old Octavia was pronounced dead at her mother’s great-uncle’s mobile home at Memory Lane Trailer Park in Sturgis Township on Thursday afternoon.
“Octavia deserved more,” said the boy’s aunt, who prefers to remain anonymous. WSBT. “I know there were many, many people who loved Octavia, and all her mother had to do was reach out to one of us.”
“Anyone would have helped instead of what happened to her,” he added.
The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office responded to the mobile home and deemed the circumstances surrounding the child’s death suspicious.
The Major Crimes Task Force was activated to help launch an investigation into Octavia’s death, leading investigators to arrest the 21-year-old mother for involuntary manslaughter.
But additional details about Octavia’s death are still unknown.
“My heart goes out to everyone involved in this case,” said St. Joseph County Undersheriff Jason Bingaman. KOMO News reported.
“This is a sad and tragic situation that did not have to happen and unfortunately there is a loss of a young man’s life and that is worrying.”
Multiple attempts to revive the 2-year-old girl in the mobile home were unsuccessful, but the circumstances surrounding her death were considered suspicious, leading investigators to take her 21-year-old mother into custody.
Bohne’s great-uncles, who lived in the mobile home and have five children, were also Octavia’s most current guardians.
The Sturgis Police Department, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Michigan State Police, Tri-Township Fire Department, Sturgis Fire Department and St. County Victim Services Unit .Joseph also assisted the sheriff’s office in the investigation, the Sturgis Journal reported.
Bohne was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the St. Joseph County prosecutor upgraded those charges after her arraignment Friday to open murder without bail.
Octavia’s aunt, who is a mother of five, was also the 2-year-old’s most present guardian, even though there was never a set schedule for when she would care for her.
And the aunt said her children loved the 2-year-old as if she were their own sister.
The last time he saw her was the weekend before Halloween, when he took Octavia dressed as a bumblebee trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.
“She barely stayed with us, because she was so excited and running around to get all the candy from all the people who were handing it out,” he told WSBT.
“She wanted to eat the candy as fast as she got it.”
A resident of Memory Lane Trailer Park told KOMO News, “I wish I had sought help before this had happened.” There are many people I could have resolved before this would have happened.
He said Octavia was one of the happiest little girls he had ever seen and he wants her to be remembered for her smile.
“The loss of someone is always difficult, but the loss of a child is especially tragic and affects the entire community,” Bingaman added in his statement.
Residents around Memory Lane Trailer Park, where the girl died, were stunned after hearing the news of her death.
“I wish I had gotten help before this happened,” Thomas James, a neighbor, told KOMO News. “There are a lot of people I could have settled with before this happened.”
The St. Joseph County, Michigan Major Crimes Task Force is further investigating the circumstances of his death.