Months After Daughter’s Death, Enfield Mother Is Arrested

ENFIELD, CT — The mother of a 12-year-old girl found dead in her Enfield home in March was arrested Friday and charged with risk of injury to a child, according to police.

Melanie Federline, 39, of Enfield, was arrested Oct. 30 on a warrant, the Enfield Police Department said in a release. She is being held on a court-set $250,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Monday, Nov. 2, in Hartford Superior Court.

The release did not describe the conduct behind the charge, identify the child involved or explicitly connect the allegation to her daughter's death.

Federline is the mother of Eve Rogers, who was found dead March 18 at the family's Elm Street home. In WFSB's initial reporting, Federline said she discovered her daughter when she went to wake her.

As Patch previously reported, emergency crews were called to the home around 10:25 a.m. and confirmed the girl had died. Enfield police obtained a search warrant, and state police assisted with the investigation.

Eve's stepfather, Anthony Federline, was arrested April 2 and charged with first-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. He pleaded not guilty, according to Patch's subsequent coverage of the police timeline.

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Anthony Federline had worked as a school bus driver through Smyth Bus, Enfield's transportation contractor. The company said it immediately fired him after learning of his arrest.

Patch's April coverage of a search warrant described investigators' efforts to gather evidence related to possible homicide, sexual assault and risk of injury to a child. Seeking that evidence did not establish that a homicide had occurred.

The state Department of Children and Families also said it had been investigating a report involving Eve for about a week before her death. The report concerned her leaving home early in the morning without her family's knowledge or permission to walk to a nearby store, according to Patch's April reporting on the agency's statement.

“The Department had been investigating these allegations for approximately one week prior to Eve’s untimely death,” DCF spokesman Peter Yazbak said at the time.

In July, Patch reported on additional search warrants seeking social media and purchase records after toxicology testing found a lethal level of diphenhydramine, commonly known as Benadryl. Investigators were trying to determine how Eve obtained and ingested the medication.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later determined Eve died of acute intoxication involving diphenhydramine, fluoxetine and bupropion, the Connecticut Post reported Oct. 19. Her manner of death remained undetermined because the office could not establish whether the overdose was accidental, intentional or a homicide, the outlet reported.

Friday's police release did not provide further details about Melanie Federline's charge.

For more Northern Connecticut news, follow Patch editor Jay Kenney.