A Barrow jury last week found Esther Edwards-Gust, 30, of New Stuyahok, not guilty of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and second-degree assault after a 2012 incident that left her 3-year-old daughter dead.
The felony charges were all lessened to reckless endangerment charges, class A misdemeanors. For the charges of reckless endangerment, Edwards-Gust was ordered to serve 365 days in jail with credit for time served and complete treatment at Ernie Turner Center in Anchorage. She was also placed on probation until Oct. 10, 2015.
In February, 2012, Edwards-Gust, who was an elementary school teacher in Barrow at the time, was living with Richard Tilden, Jr. Alcohol was consumed that night when Edwards-Gust's 3-year-old daughter Miley and her 1-year-old sister were locked in a room with the window open.
Temperatures dipped to 30 below, according to reports from the time.
Both girls were discovered extremely hypothermic the following afternoon, and despite being rushed first to the hospital in Barrow, then Anchorage, Miley did not survive. Her younger sister did.
Tilden was apparently responsible for watching Edwards-Gust's daughters while she went to teach the next day, but it was early afternoon by the time he woke up and checked on them. They were both unresponsive and cold.
After a lengthy investigation, a grand jury indicted Tilden on second-degree murder and first-degree assault. Tilden and Edwards-Gust were both indicted for manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, and second-degree assault. In April 2013, Tilden pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and criminally negligent homicide. As part of the plea deal, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and 10 years of probation.
Edwards-Gust was released on $10,000 bail. She was arrested again later in 2012 for violating the conditions of her release when she was found passed out in New Stuyahok.
This story first appeared in The Arctic Sounder and is republished here with permission.