PIERCETON — An official arrest has been made following the April 2018 death of 11-month-old Emma Grace.

Courtney Leann Kincaid

Courtney Leann Kincaid, 29, Columbia City, was booked into the Whitley County Jail this afternoon, May 29. She is being charged with aggravated battery, a level 1 felony; neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a level 1 felony; and battery with death to a person under 14 years old, a level 2 felony. Kincaid is being held on a $200,000 bond.

Emma Grace’s death resulted from a head trauma that occurred while she was under the care of Kincaid. She suffered extreme swelling on the brain and surgery was needed to relieve the pressure. After surgery, her parents Nick and Sherry Leeman, Pierceton, were told what no parent wants to hear. Emma Grace had no blood flow to her brain and she became an organ donor — saving three lives in the process.

Sherry Leeman used the Facebook page, Emma Grace and her gifts, to announce the arrest in a Facebook live video.

“For the past, over a year now, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what happened to Emma and how she left us. We’ve been pretty vague, you guys do know that it didn’t happen while she was with us, she was at someone else’s house that was watching her … We don’t really still know what happened that day. We hope to find out more things about what happened that day. She knows — Courtney Kincaid was her sitter that day and she knows what happened.”

“We still don’t really have a whole lot more answers about what happened that day, but there was enough evidence to charge her … A lot is going to happen. This is a huge step. This is huge, huge, huge, for us and for the justice of Emma. But, it’s also just the beginning. It’s just the beginning because there’s going to be a trial.”

Ink Free News has not yet received an official affidavit of probable cause detailing the charges.

Read more about how Emma Grace saved lives through organ donation, here.