Maryland infant found dead in couch cushions after mom drunkenly Snapchats and parties with friends

In a tragic situation out of Cecil County, Maryland, a young woman is behind bars, charged with murder after Maryland State Police say her five-week-old daughter was found dead inside her townhouse. According to Maryland police, the death followed a night in which the baby’s mother allegedly drank heavily and recorded a series of Snapchat videos while the infant cried nearby.

According to a local news outlet, the Cecil Daily, Destiny Faith Chiveral, 24, of Charlestown, Maryland, initially told police she had fallen asleep on a couch with her newborn beside her and later discovered the baby unresponsive, suggesting the infant may have slipped between couch cushions. Medical examiners, however, ruled the death a homicide after finding blunt-force trauma to the head, including bruising and internal bleeding that doctors said would not be caused by a simple fall from a couch.

The Snapchat messages

As part of the investigation, state police obtained search warrants for Chiveral’s phone, her person, and residences associated with her. Detectives recovered digital evidence from Chiveral’s cellphone showing what police described as extensive alcohol consumption and erratic behavior during the late-night and early-morning hours before the baby was found dead. Many of the recordings were outgoing Snapchat videos sent to friends while Chiveral was alone with the infant, investigators allege.

Charging documents describe videos recorded between about 11 p.m. and 1:34 a.m. in which a baby can be heard crying repeatedly in the background. In one clip, Chiveral “struggles to operate a baby gate while holding a vape” and angrily declares she is “too drunk” to deal with it, before climbing over the gate.

In another, she dances in the kitchen and lip-syncs to music. Later videos show her hiccupping, slurring her words, and complaining about the baby “trippin’” in the background, even as she describes the infant as generally “chill,” according to investigators’ summaries of the footage.

Police also noted that a picture frame above the couch “appeared straight” in a video recorded around 1:34 a.m., when the baby was last seen alive, but was found “significantly askew” when first responders arrived hours later, suggesting a disturbance near where the infant was discovered.

A nearly empty bottle of vodka

Investigators further reported that a nearly empty bottle of vodka was found on a kitchen table the next morning, contradicting Chiveral’s claim that she had consumed only one drink and a single shot.

Police and emergency medical personnel were dispatched shortly after 9 a.m. on December 4, 2025, to the unit block of Leedle Circle in Rising Sun after a 911 call reported an unresponsive infant. Paramedics pronounced the baby dead at the scene.

The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit assumed the investigation, and the child’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy, which revealed evidence of trauma inconsistent with an accidental death, charging documents state.

Investigators arrested Chiveral without incident, charging her with first-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in death, and related offenses. She is being held without bond at the Cecil County Detention Center, police said. The homicide investigation remains active as authorities continue to review evidence and prepare the case for prosecution, police said.