Inset, left to right: Alice Bredhold (Browning Funeral Home) and Ashley Marie Bredhold (Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Indiana street where the family lived when Alice died (Google Maps).
A 40-year-old mother in Indiana faces decades behind bars after a jury convicted her of killing her 12-year-old daughter by willfully failing to help the child manage and treat her diabetes.
A jury in Vanderburgh County deliberated for less than a day Friday before finding Ashley Marie Bredhold guilty on two counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death in connection with the 2024 death of Alice Bredhold, according to court records.
Alice’s father, Brent Bredhold, was convicted last year on a lesser charge of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. Circuit Judge Ryan D. Hatfield sentenced Brent Bredhold to nine years in a state correctional facility.
“This is a heartbreaking case where a 12-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes was left to fend for herself until her untimely death,” Vanderburgh County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Winston Lin previously said. “Her parents should have been her strongest advocates to keep her healthy and alive, but unfortunately all they had to offer was apathy, indifference, and neglect.”
On July 4, 2024, police and emergency medical crews responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive 12-year-old at the Bredhold home in the 500 block of South New York Avenue in Evansville, according to an earlier release from the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office. First responders found Alice lying on her bedroom floor and pronounced her dead at the scene.
According to the Vanderburgh County Coroner, Alice died from diabetic ketosis — a serious condition that, as explained by the Mayo Clinic, presents numerous telltale symptoms.
Alice was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March 2020. Prosecutors said children with the disease typically live “long, mostly normal lives,” but Alice died within four years of her diagnosis.
Evidence presented during both parents’ trials showed that they poorly managed — and at times outright ignored — Alice’s diabetes from the beginning.
Before her death, the Indiana Department of Child Services contacted Alice’s parents after her blood sugar levels repeatedly tested in an extremely high range at school. In opening statements against Brent Bredhold, prosecutors cited a school nurse who recorded 44 readings above 300 and 14 readings over 600 in the weeks before Alice died.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that blood sugar levels under 180 two hours after starting a meal are considered typical targets for people living with diabetes.
Testimony and cellphone data presented during Ashley Bredhold’s trial showed that in the days leading up to Alice’s death, her parents knew her Omni Pen was not functioning but did not obtain replacements, local ABC affiliate WEHT reported.
When Alice complained that drinking water “felt like drinking acid,” Ashley Bredhold allegedly told her to “drink more water.”
“Parental responsibility is not a 9-to-5 job, to clock in or clock out when convenient,” Lin said. “That said, this was an extreme case where Alice was not properly supervised for years, and the long-term neglect placed her in a precarious situation that cut her life short. Of the hundreds of Type 1 diabetic kids under the age of 18 seen by her pediatric endocrinologist, she was the only one to have died directly due to her diabetes.”
Ashley Bredhold is scheduled to appear for sentencing on March 19. She faces up to 40 years in prison.
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