Police Arrest Mother After 14-Year-Old Dies Of Meth Overdose

BARTOW, FL -- A Bartow mother has been arrested for failing to get medical help for her 14-year-old daughter after she took an overdose of methamphetamine.

On Tuesday, Oct. 9, Bartow Police arrested Audra Watson-Pender, 39, and charged her with aggravated manslaughter of a child and tampering with physical evidence after she failed to call for help when her teen daughter, Rhianon Quinn, overdosed.

According to Hall, Quinn called her mother at work and told her she'd overdosed. Watson-Pender came home and, with the help of Quinn's 20-year-old boyfriend, Matthew Christian, placed Quinn in an ice bath.

It wasn't until six hours later when Quinn became unresponsive that Watson-Pender called for help. Medical examiners said if the teen had received medical help just two hours earlier, she might have survived.

“I don’t know what to tell you about this woman that allowed this 14-year-old to just lay there in this home and die. And, remember, she laid there and suffered for six hours before we got medical attention to her,” Hall said during a press conference Tuesday.

Police also arrested Christian and charged him with aggravated manslaughter of a child, possession of child porn and for transmitting material harmful to minors.

Images via Bartow Police