Kenneth Lain

Authorities last week said Mercedes died while in the care of the babysitter, Justin Miller, in Mishawaka. Miller led police to Mercedes’ body in a remote wooded area in Starke County on Wednesday, three days after she was reported missing.

Miller is charged with child neglect causing death, and Mercedes’ parents, Kenneth Lain and Tiffany Coburn, are charged with lesser counts of child neglect.

According to Starke County court records, Lain pleaded guilty to neglect in 2016, after a 20-year-old man sexually abused Lain’s 12-year-old daughter. The girl later gave birth to a child fathered by the man.

Lain and his then-wife, Mary Lain, knew the man was “dating” and having sex with their daughter, and even allowed him to live at their home for about two months, according to a Knox police report.

Mary Lain also pleaded guilty to neglect. The 20-year-old man, Angel Delapaz, pleaded guilty to child molesting.

Lain’s daughter told police her parents were “well aware” Delapaz was at least 18, that they hugged and kissed in front of her parents and that both parents discussed the “relationship” with her.

The daughter told police Kenneth Lain told her that “age should not matter.”

Mary Lain told police her husband admitted to her that Delapaz sometimes gave him marijuana in exchange for allowing the daughter to spend time with Delapaz.

After being removed from the home and giving birth to a child fathered by Delapaz, the girl and her son were eventually adopted by a staffer she met at a youth home, according to a report by radio station WKVI.

In November 2019, she appeared in a Starke County courtroom marking National Adoption Day to praise her adoptive family, saying she was “as happy as could be,” WKVI reported.

In the case of Mercedes, the 11-month-old girl, Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman said last week there was “no evidence whatsoever” that Kenneth Lain and Tiffany Coburn knew where their daughter was or that she was dead after she went missing. Lain filed a missing-person report on Sunday.

Lain and Coburn dropped Mercedes off with Miller on Aug. 12 “so the parents could have a break,” according to court documents. At first, the baby was with Miller at a motel on the north side of Plymouth.

According to court documents, Miller told police he took Mercedes to a house in Mishawaka. At some point on Aug. 14, Miller said, he woke up and found Mercedes dead. Chipman said Miller left the baby’s body in Starke County sometime on Aug. 14.

Mercedes’ autopsy was conducted Friday, but Chipman said he would not immediately disclose the cause and manner of her death.

This article is made available through Hoosier State Press Association.