10-Month-Old Scottie Crowell Dies After Grandmother Allegedly Forgot Daycare Drop-Off and Went to Work With Baby Still in Car

Scottie Crowell, a 10-month-old baby girl, died after being left in a car in Kentucky.Barnett Strother Funeral Home

A routine morning favor ended in tragedy in Madisonville, Kentucky, after 10-month-old Scottie Gwyn Crowell was left inside her grandmother’s parked vehicle for roughly eight hours while the grandmother worked at a nearby medical clinic.

Scottie was supposed to be dropped off at daycare on Aug. 13. Instead, police say her grandmother, 61-year-old physician Dr. Stacey Fazenbaker, drove directly to Owensboro Health Multicare, went inside for work and apparently forgot that the infant remained strapped into the back seat.

The mistake was not discovered until late that afternoon, when Scottie’s father arrived at daycare to collect his daughter and was told she had never been dropped off.

A morning daycare trip that never happened

Stacey Fazenbaker, 61, allegedly forgot to drop the infant off at daycare.Owensboro Health

According to investigators, Fazenbaker had agreed to pick up her granddaughter that morning and take her to daycare before beginning her workday.

Police said she arrived at Owensboro Health Multicare at around 8 a.m., leaving Scottie inside the vehicle in the parking lot.

For hours, Scottie’s parents apparently believed their daughter was safely at daycare.

At approximately 4 p.m., her father went to collect her. Daycare staff then delivered the news that immediately raised alarm: Scottie had never arrived.

He contacted his wife, who then called Fazenbaker. It was during that sequence of calls that the family realized where the baby was, according to reports.

Fazenbaker rushed from the medical facility toward her vehicle with several coworkers.

Madisonville Police Major Jason McKnight described the frantic response, saying she “ran outside with some co-workers to get the child.”

But, he added, “it was far too late by then.”

Emergency efforts could not save Scottie

The baby was found dead in a car outside of the Owensboro Health Multicare in Madisonville, Kentucky.Google Maps

Scottie was found still in the vehicle after spending approximately eight hours there.

Police and emergency personnel responded to the medical facility and attempted lifesaving measures, but Scottie could not be revived. She was pronounced dead at just 10 months old.

Reports cited by the New York Post said the outside temperature reached approximately 95 degrees that day, with the temperature inside the vehicle reportedly climbing as high as 115 degrees.

Authorities have not yet announced Scottie’s official cause of death. An autopsy was performed, but the results remained pending as investigators continued examining the circumstances surrounding her death.

Police investigation remains open

No criminal charges had been filed against Fazenbaker as of the latest reports.

Police said she underwent a blood test as part of the investigation. Authorities indicated they did not expect the results to reveal alcohol or drug involvement. Kentucky Child Protective Services is also involved in the investigation.

McKnight said investigators were still working to establish exactly how the sequence of events unfolded. Once that picture becomes clearer, authorities could potentially seek charges through a grand jury.

The absence of charges at this stage therefore does not mean the case has been closed. Investigators are continuing to gather evidence while awaiting findings that could influence what happens next.

A family devastated by the loss

The tragedy has an especially painful family dimension.

Fazenbaker had reportedly relocated to Madisonville about a year earlier to live closer to her daughter, Sydni Crowell, 33, who is also a physician and works as an OB-GYN.

Scottie was Sydni and her husband’s second child. She was born on Sept. 20, 2025, following IVF, according to reports. Her obituary records her death on Aug. 13, 2026.

Scottie’s aunt, Emmy Fazenbaker, later shared a brief tribute to her niece on Facebook:

“We love you so much, our sweet baby girl.”

What began as an ordinary arrangement — a grandmother helping her daughter by taking her granddaughter to daycare — had ended hours later with the family discovering that Scottie had never reached daycare at all.

For investigators, the central task now is reconstructing precisely how that routine morning journey went so catastrophically wrong and determining whether the circumstances warrant criminal charges.