Child Dies In Arkansas Day Care Van: 3 Women Plead Not Guilty

WEST MEMPHIS, AR — Three of four women have pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 5-year-old boy who was left in a day care van in West Memphis for nearly nine hours as the temperature inside the vehicle reached 141 degrees.

Online court records show Felicia Phillips, Wanda Taylor and Kendra Washington pleaded not guilty on Monday in Crittenden County Circuit Court in Marion in the June 12 death of Christopher Gardner Jr.

The women overlooked Gardner three separate times before he died inside the van, investigators said.

The fourth woman's case was delayed because her attorney has been called for jury duty, an attorney for the child's mother told WMC-TV. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

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