Anne C. Jordan appears in a mugshot from June 2023 (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department)
A Tennessee woman is facing multiple charges after a 3-month-old baby boy died under still-mysterious circumstances at her apartment-based day care earlier this year.
Anne C. Jordan, 51, was arrested late last week on six counts of child neglect over the underlying incident in which the infant died, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department announced in a press release.
In addition to the boy’s death, six other children were left unattended on the day in question, police allege. The children left alone in Jordan’s West Nashville apartment on April 10 were of various ages, police said, but none older than 16 months. The discoveries of the dead child, and the others left to fend for themselves, were made by the mother of the deceased and another child’s parent, police said.
She is currently being held on a $30,000 bond at the Correctional Development Center, according to jail records reviewed by Law&Crime.
Still, however, the boy’s death is unaccounted for.
“The six children were determined to be in good health,” the MNPD said. “Medical staff at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital reported that the deceased child did not have any obvious sign of traumatic injury or medical issues. The investigation into the death remains open with final autopsy and toxicology results pending.”
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In late April, Jordan said she found the 3-month-old unconscious in a bassinet and attempted CPR, police told local NBC affiliate WSMV.
After those resuscitation efforts failed, she fled the scene and tried to kill herself, the defendant allegedly told law enforcement. Two parents arrived later that day to find the child dead and the apartment empty – reportedly banging on Jordan’s door for nearly 15 minutes before they were able to gain entry by just walking inside because they found the door was unlocked, the TV station reported, citing a complaint filed with the Tennessee Department of Human Services. The deceased child was reportedly cold to the touch and not breathing.
A neighbor described the devastating scene outside Avana Lexington Apartments after the horrific news spread.
“I saw parents coming down the stairs, like rushing down the stairs, holding their babies and they were crying,” Sharlene Wagner told WSMV. “And I remember seeing a man get out of his car and just run up the stairs. I mean he was missing two or three steps at a time just to get up there. And he came down with his child, but it was just like, you could see the fear in these parents’ faces.”
Jordan was eventually found some 20 miles west – by hikers in Harpeth River State Park that same night, the MNPD said in an initial press release. The defendant was “suffering from significant lacerations, apparently self-inflicted, to her arms,” police said.
As it turned out, Jordan was allegedly operating the day care without a license, WSMV determined. That discovery led the TDHS to obtain a temporary restraining order barring her from operating such a business.
In the aftermath of the boy’s death, WSMV spoke with parents who said they had either used or considered using Jordan’s services.
According to one parent, her children would come home starving, bleeding from diaper rashes, and smelling of feces. The parent said she had considered going to police about the treatment of her children but didn’t feel like she had enough evidence.
“I was terrified,” the mother said. “You just wish your gut feeling is right all the time and mine was absolutely right, just noticing all the red flags.”
One potential customer said the apartment in Nashville’s Bellevue neighborhood simply looked too clean.
“I didn’t get any red flags when I talked with her per se. It was mostly her apartment,” the parent told the TV station. “Whenever I walked in, I noticed she had a glass table (a glass coffee table) and there were a bunch of breakables in the room which I thought was really odd…it was too clean for me personally. It didn’t look like kids had played there.”
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The defendant has not yet entered a plea. She has a hearing scheduled for June 7.
Jordan’s attorney, Bernie McEvoy, did not immediately return Law&Crime’s request for comment.
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