By Scott McCabe and Andrew Marra, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 7, 2004
LAKE WORTH -- Had Debbie DiFloria followed her instincts and held on to the strawberry blond baby instead of handing her back to the sheriff's deputy, 4-month-old Savanna Wildman might not have died later that afternoon.
DiFloria and a truck driver found the baby at the Tavares Cove mobile home park in suburban Lake Worth, sweating and bawling in the back seat of a beat-up Pontiac on the morning of April 7.
The infant's mother was slumped over the wheel. DiFloria removed Savanna and her car seat and called 911.
The baby was blue-eyed, with smatterings of strawberry-blond hair on the nape of her neck.
"She had fair skin, and she was sweet," DiFloria said.
DiFloria rocked the baby in her arms, and Savanna quieted, mesmerized by the flashing ambulance lights. For a second, DiFloria thought to herself that if she walked away with the baby, no one would ever know.
But she didn't.
Medics finally revived the mother, Melisa Wildman, with a sharp tap to her head.
A sheriff's deputy questioned Wildman before letting her drive off with Savanna, even though Wildman had two outstanding warrants against her.
Four hours later, the baby died. Lake Worth police say Wildman again left the baby in the back seat of the car and passed out, this time in her small pink and gray apartment in Lake Worth.
On Thursday, Lake Worth police arrested Wildman, 28, charging her with aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was being held at the Palm Beach County Jail.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's office last week opened an internal affairs investigation into deputy Barone Miller, who let Wildman drive off that morning, spokeswoman Diane Carhart said.
The investigation will explore whether Miller violated any department policies or principles in his handling of Wildman's situation, she said.
"It's a sad case," said Lake Worth police spokesman Sgt. Dan Boland.
Wildman, a stripper at Platinum Showgirls, 1107 N. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach, admitted to police that over a span of 12 hours she had taken Xanax, drunk four or five beers, had a "bump" of cocaine and smoked marijuana, police said.
During her interview at the police station last month, Wildman's speech was slow and she kept closing her eyes as if she were falling asleep, police said.
When Wildman called her boyfriend, John Camito, from the police station to tell him their baby had died, he seemed more worried about the marijuana plant that police found growing in the bedroom closet, according to the police report.
"I call you, telling you that your daughter is dead and all you keep asking me about is your pot plant," Wildman yelled into the phone. "That was my kid. My flesh and blood, John. And it's my fault she's dead."
Wildman told police that she danced at Platinum Showgirls until after midnight, then picked up Savanna from her baby-sitter and visited Paul Falck, who lives at the Tavares Cove mobile home park.
Around 9 that morning, the truck driver, Lloyd Blatt of Mohrsville, Pa., saw Falck put the baby in the back of the 1988 Pontiac and help Wildman into the driver's seat. Blatt then drove off in an SUV.
That's when the 911 call was made. DiFloria and Blatt watched as paramedics revived Wildman and the deputy questioned her.
"Next thing I know, they're letting her drive away -- to our amazement," DiFloria said. "How could you just let her drive away? We all just stood there with our jaws open."
When Blatt objected, the sheriff's deputy retorted, "Let me do my job," DiFloria said.
Deputy Miller told Lake Worth police that after talking with Wildman for some time that morning, he was comfortable with her ability to drive.
He told Wildman to turn herself in for the two warrrants -- failure to appear on two driving-under-suspension charges -- as soon as possible and released her.
Palm Beach Fire-Rescue Lt. Paul Jalbert told detectives that Wildman had answered all the questions correctly and he did not believe her to be under the influence of anything.
Wildman drove to the West Palm Beach Treatment Center, a methadone clinic she visits every day, and took her dosage, then left. Savanna was with her.
Around 11:15, she bought lunch at McDonald's. At some point, Wildman wrecked and shattered the right front window of the car, police said.
Then she went inside her small apartment at 1234 19th Ave. N. in Lake Worth and passed out.
When Wildman awoke around 2 p.m., she realized her baby was still in the car. By that time, Savanna was dead, according to medical examiners.
Two hours after her death, Savanna's temperature was 106.3 degrees.
A few days later, DiFloria saw an item in the newspaper about a dead baby.
She called the investigating detective and asked whether the baby had reddish hair.
Yes, he said. It was the same little girl.
"I immediately lost it," DiFloria said Thursday. "I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother. I held her in my arms, and four hours later she was dead."
DiFloria did everything she thought was expected of her -- cared for the girl, arranged for her secretary to call 911, did as fire-rescue and law enforcement officials asked.
The next time, she said, "They're going to have to get me on kidnapping charges. I'm not going to release it."