DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A Dunwoody home daycare center owner has pleaded guilty on charges connected to the death of a 4-month-old.
Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes was in the courtroom when a DeKalb County judge sentenced Amanda Hickey on Friday.
In Feb. 2021, police responded to Little Lovey Daycare on Leisure Lane where a child was found unresponsive in his crib at the daycare. Investigators found the baby had been placed on his stomach and left unattended for more than two hours.
Police arrested Hickey, the owner of the daycare, and charged her with murder. Police later uncovered other allegations of abuse against children from six months to 16-years-old. Our partners at Channel 2 previously reported warrants saying the owner yanked hair and shook children.
The state shut down the daycare in 2021.
The judge sentenced Hickey to 35 years in prison with 30 to serve. The three years she has already spent in jail will count toward her sentence.