Hernando County mother arrested after 1-month-old daughter’s asphyxiation death

Cheyenne Lee Burke, 33, was arrested May 13 and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child after deputies responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive 1-month-old girl at the 8000 block of Folkstone Street in Spring Hill. Hernando County Fire Rescue took the baby to Oak Hill Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The Medical Examiner ruled the death asphyxia from an unsafe sleep environment complicated by pneumonia.

Investigators said Burke admitted to co-sleeping after she had already received safe-sleep guidance from medical staff and the Department of Children and Families. The affidavit said Burke placed her 22-month-old child in a pack-and-play around 9 p.m. on Nov. 3, 2025, then took the infant into bed sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. A resident at the home reportedly heard the baby crying for about 45 minutes, and deputies said they found pillows, blankets, baby bottles, a Boppy pillow and a purse containing a straw with residue they believed pointed to drug use.

The tragedy lands in a state where the Florida Department of Children and Families says children under age 1 account for nearly 100% of unsafe-sleep fatalities, and the Florida Department of Health says sleep-related deaths are one of the leading causes of death for infants between 1 month and 1 year old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says babies should sleep alone, on their backs, in a crib or bassinet in the same room as an adult, and warns that accidental suffocation or strangulation can happen in adult beds and other unsafe surfaces. In Hernando County, families can reach the Florida Department of Health office at 7551 Forest Oaks Blvd. in Spring Hill at 352-540-6800. Healthy Start services for Hernando County are available free through Kids Central at 352-848-3977, and WIC appointments can be scheduled at 800-342-3556.

The case also raises hard questions for Hernando County's child-protection network. If Burke had already been warned about safe sleep, officials should explain whether the family was offered enough follow-up, home-visiting support, treatment referrals or other protection before the baby died. Hernando County has faced similar scrutiny before, including the 2017 death of 1-month-old Carson Abney, when Jesse James Abney and Justine Lynn Vansant were charged after deputies said the infant was not breathing at a Spring Hill home and later found bruising, head trauma and rib fractures. For families in immediate danger, the county points residents to 911, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and the Florida Abuse Hotline at 800-962-2873.