Cranbrook babysitter charged with murder

A Cranbrook, B.C.,woman hasbeen charged in the death of a toddler who was found face down in a bathtub and not breathing last May.

Tammy Marion Bouvette, 28, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of 19-month-old Iyanna Teeple on May 26.

According to police, the girl's grandmother dropped her off at Bouvette's home on the 2000 block of Second Street North inthe southeastern Interior community of Cranbrookearlier in the day. Several hours later the girl was found face down in a bathtub in thehouse.

When ambulance attendants arrived they found the child not breathing andtransported her to the East Kootenay Regional Hospital. She wasput on life-support andflown to the Calgary Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead on May 29.

RCMP say a forensic autopsy later confirmed that the girl had died from drowning, but emergency responders raised concerns about the incident, prompting police to investigate further, said Cpl. Chris Faulkner.

"The B.C. Ambulance Service and first responders from the Cranbrook Fire Department didn't really like the environment that the child was found in, so they were a little suspiciouslike the details they were being told, with what they found at the scene," said Faulkner.

After investigators conducted several interviews with the babysitter, they determined they had enough evidence to suspect foul play in the toddler's death.

Faulkner said it appears the child was left with Bouvette on other occasions, but the home was not a licensed daycare.

"It was just an off and on thing, through acquaintances. The babysitter herself has four of her own children. It wasn't a licensed daycare, but it was kind of a situation where friends look after friends," said Faulkner.

RCMP say they are not releasing any more details about their investigation, but credited the efforts of the medical examiner in Alberta for pushing the investigation forward.

Bouvette is expected to appear in Cranbrook provincial court Monday, but will also needto appear in front of a Supreme Court justice for a bail hearing, said police.

Second-degree murder applies to homicides that were deliberate but not planned or linked to certain criminal activities.