Vancleave mom sentenced to 20 years for infant hot car death

Jackson County resident Elizabeth Marie Barhonovich, 29, pled guilty on November 15, 2018 to Manslaughter for the death of her 10 month old son. The incident occurred in Vancleave, Mississippi on June 14, 2018.  The Jackson County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.  The infant had been left in Barhonovich’s vehicle for over an hour.  The investigators determined that this was not an incident where the child was accidentally forgotten in the vehicle but found evidence that Barhonovich had been using drugs the day before and the day of the incident.

Judge Robert Krebs sentenced Barhonovich to the maximum penalty of twenty (20) years to serve in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, a fine in the amount of $1,000, all costs of court. Her sentence will run consecutively to a prison sentence she is currently serving out of Harrison County.

 District Attorney Tony Lawrence stated, “Drugs have such detrimental and tragic consequences in so many people’s lives.  This innocent child died due to the defendant putting drugs before her own child’s life. This is yet another example of how drug addictions can cause tragic consequences.  This defendant was held accountable for her actions, but I hope that in the future we will be able to hold drug dealers who contribute to the cause of these kinds of deaths accountable as well.” 

 Assistant District Attorney Angel McIlrath Myers stated, “This is not a case of a horrible accident or mistake. We have a mother who was at the tail end of a days long drug binge. She chose drugs over her child and her child died for her addiction.  Grief and remorse don’t excuse the deadly decisions she made that day. This is tragic in every way, and it is a tragedy that could have been avoided.”