Amber Robertson waited seven days to report the disappearance of her 8-month-old daughter, Amiah, who is feared dead and whose remains have never been found, police allege
A 23-year-old Indiana woman who reported her baby daughter missing in 2019 has been arrested and charged with neglect.
On Saturday, more than three years after 8-month-old Amiah Robertson disappeared, her mother, Amber Robertson, was arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect and two counts of child neglect resulting in bodily injury, online jail records show.
The arrest came after a Marion County grand jury indicted Robertson on the charges, court records show, WTHR, CBS 4 and WRTV report.
According to the grand jury, Robertson “knowingly placed her 8-month-old daughter Amiah Robertson in a situation that endangered her life or health, and/or ‘abandoned or cruelly confined’ the girl, and/or deprived her of ‘necessary support’ which resulted in serious bodily injury” the outlets report.
It was not immediately clear if Robertson has entered a plea to the charges against her or retained an attorney to comment on her behalf.
Robertson’s boyfriend at the time, Robert Lyons, is listed as a co-defendant in the case, court records show, the outlets report. The charge or charges Lyons faces were not immediately clear. It was also not immediately clear if Lyons has retained an attorney to comment on his behalf.
Amiah was first reported missing on March 16, 2019, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said at the time.
At that time, police said that Robertson told authorities that she believed Lyons had dropped her daughter off at her babysitter’s house on South Holmes Road, local Fox affiliate WXIN reported.
Authorities then said they believed Amiah had actually been missing since March 9, when she was last seen with Lyons, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said at a press conference in 2019. Police allege Robertson waited seven days to report the girl’s disappearance.
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“We’re frustrated and quite frankly angry because of misinformation and lack of information and lack of cooperation from those most closely involved,” Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Bryan Roach said at the press conference.
“This is an 8-month-old child, and I think all of us would agree somebody would know the whereabouts,” Roach added.
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After Amiah vanished, investigators found items on the banks of Eagle Creek, less than a mile from where Amiah was last seen, that were identified as belonging to her, Det. Jean Burkert said at the press conference.
Amiah was last seen “alive and well” with Lyons at about 1:15 p.m. on March 9, Burkert said.
At about 10 p.m. that night, Lyons returned to Robertson’s home “alone, without Amiah,” Burkert said.
In an interview at the time with WTHR, Robertson said she remembered Lyons saying he hung out at a house near the White River and went to that house on Wednesday to see if her daughter had been there.
When she found some of her daughter’s belongings at the house near the river, she called police, she told the outlet.
“All I can do is sit and think of things that my daughter loves,” Robertson told WTHR.
Fearing Amiah was dead, authorities had divers search a lake near Mariner Drive to look for evidence, Fox59 reported in 2019.
WIBC reports that at a press conference on Monday, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said, “The one thing that I would make clear to everybody is if we are in a position where we are able to locate the baby, if we are able to locate that child, nothing precludes us from being able to file additional charges.”
Anyone who has information on the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers 317-262-TIPS.
