Old Town woman indicted on murder and manslaughter in daughter’s death
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A Penobscot County grand jury indicted an Old Town woman Friday on charges of depraved indifference murder, manslaughter and violating conditions of her release in the death of her 3-year-old daughter.
Hillary Goding, 28, of Old Town was arrested and charged with manslaughter June 6 after her daughter, Hailey Goding, was pronounced dead at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center that same day.
A month after Goding’s arrest, her $50,000 bail was revoked, adding a new charge of violating conditions of release. Goding allegedly violated an order for no contact with a potential witness at least 12 times since she arrived at the Penobscot County Jail, according to a July 9 report from Maine State Police Detective Paul White.
In the same report, White said Goding’s daughter, Hailey, was exposed to drug paraphernalia that Goding used to ingest what she believed to be heroin in her Center Street apartment in Old Town on June 3.
Hailey began to show signs that something was wrong almost immediately including a behavior change that escalated to breathing impairment and severe lethargy, White said in the report.
Goding didn’t call 911 until Hailey stopped breathing the next day at 10:48 p.m. on June 4, he said.
A rapid drug screen used on Hailey when she entered the hospital returned positive results for fentanyl.
Hailey Goding’s death was the second of three high profile killings of young children in the Bangor region in less than a month.
A week earlier, a 6-week-old boy in Brewer was shaken to death on May 31, according to prosecutors. The boy’s father, Ronald Harding is charged with manslaughter.
Two weeks after the death of Hailey Goding, Maddox Williams, a 3-year-old Stockton Springs boy, was pronounced dead after being brought to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast.
Williams’ mother Jessica Trefethen was charged with the boy’s murder after an autopsy revealed he had suffered a fractured spine, bruises, bleeding in his brain, a ruptured bowel and other injuries.
Goding initially appeared in court in front of Superior Court Justice Ann Murray who set her bail at $50,000 cash, the amount requested by Maine Assistant Attorney General Lisa Bogue, who is prosecuting the case.