D.A. to seek death penalty against parents charged in death of toddler left in car seat

UNIONTOWN, Pa. — The Fayette County District Attorney announced Thursday he would seek the death penalty against the parents of a 23-month-old girl who died after investigators said she was left in a car seat for 13 hours.

Andrea Dusha and Michael Wright were taken into custody in March during a custody hearing involving their other two children, a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. They were charged with criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of Lydia Wright.

Authorities said the girl was placed in a car seat at 9 p.m. February 23 and was not checked on until 10:30 a.m. February 24.

At that time, her mother told police she went to give her daughter a drink and noticed the girl was foaming at the mouth, so she rushed her to the hospital, where she later died.

Police said the toddler was severely dehydrated and weighed only 10 pounds at the time of her death – less than half the average weight for a 2-year-old girl.

Troopers said the family’s home on Collins Avenue in Uniontown had no running water or sewer service, and conditions inside were deplorable. Investigators said they found a highchair covered in feces, a needle on the bathroom floor and open bottles of pills.

“I called Child and Youth Services immediately for the unsafe conditions for the child and the living conditions,” Constable Bill Lewis told Channel 11’s Cara Sapida regarding the conditions when he evicted Dusha and Wright in February 2015.

According to troopers, the couple’s older children were not malnourished but were living in the deplorable conditions.

State police told Channel 11 News that they’re also aware of a disturbing post on Dusha’s Facebook page from the day her daughter died. The post, dated February 24 at 7:40 a.m., read, “If you want the dead to stop coming back to life, then you have to kill the living.”

Sources confirmed Greene County Child and Youth Services did have an open case file with the family when they lived in the county, but it is unclear if that case file transferred to Fayette County when the couple moved to Uniontown.

“I called Child and Youth Services immediately for the unsafe conditions for the child and the living conditions,” Constable Bill Lewis told Channel 11’s Cara Sapida regarding the conditions when he evicted Dusha and Wright in February 2015.

Lewis told Channel 11 that on eviction day he found smoke in the kitchen, garbage on top of the stove with a baby carrier next to it. He said that he did not realize at first that the baby girl was in it because it was completely covered up.

A judge denied bond for Dusha and Wright. The two are being charged with homicide.

Cox Media Group