Suspects identified in death of girl by ‘extreme alcohol poisoning'

By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Authorities are still trying to find the mother of a 4-year-old girl who died of "extreme alcohol poisoning" in an Alpharetta apartment, police said Monday.

Two Haitian nationals, the girl's father and aunt, were arrested in the incident and charged with felony murder and child cruelty, said George Gordon, spokesman for the Alpharetta police. Gordon would not release their names Monday, saying that the investigation was ongoing.

But TV station Fox 5 reported on its website that the suspects were Wilguens Decelien and Mara C. Decelien.

"Authorities say they are examining the Haitian culture to see if there is any kind of ritual that would call for any kind of alcohol being around a child," the station reported on myfoxatlanta.com.

The website for the Fulton County Sheriff confirms that people by those names are being held at the jail on murder and cruelty charges.

Gordon told the AJC Monday that he could not explain how the girl consumed alcohol. The Fulton County's district attorney's office would not comment.

"That's something I can't go into yet because it's technically an open investigation until the district attorney says it's closed," Gordon said.

Police and firefighters who responded to a call for help at Planter's Ridge condos on Homestead Trail just after midnight Friday found the girl. She was airlifted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite, where she was pronounced dead, said Gordon.

Gordon said the girl's mother is a Haitian national and that federal authorities are trying to notify her of her daughter's death.