3-Year-Old Girl and a Dog Were Found Dead in a Car. The Child's Mother Claims She Fell into a River at the Time of the Tragedy By Brenton Blanchet

A woman has been charged with manslaughter after her 3-year-old daughter and a dog were found dead in her locked vehicle — during a time when she allegedly claimed to have fallen into a river on her way to take out trash.

The Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office (PSCO) initially discovered the vehicle of 40-year-old Pennsylvania resident Kelly Brown outside a local business in Milford, Maine, on the evening of Aug. 9, according to Maine State Police (MSP).

Inside the car, police officers discovered the young girl dead, and they later located the mother “nearby.”

After calling in help, MSP arrested Brown, and she was booked at the Penobscot County Jail around 5 a.m. local time the following morning. During an appearance at Penobscot Judicial Center on Aug. 11, Brown was formally charged with manslaughter.

According to an affidavit and court documents obtained by CBS affiliate WABI, NBC affiliate WCHS and Boston.com, Brown told police that she left her daughter in the car while she was picking up trash in the area, but she fell into the Penobscot River and was “swept away.”

A spokesperson for the MSP did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for confirmation on Sunday, Aug. 17. Attorney information for Brown was not immediately available.

According to court records obtained by WABI, police assert that Brown left her child and a small dog inside the parked car in a Milford Freshies parking lot around 2 a.m. local time on Aug. 9.

She briefly returned to the vehicle around 6 a.m., but apparently did not come back again until police and EMS arrived 14 hours later, the outlet said.

Brown, her daughter Fiona and their 13-year-old family dog Penelope left Pennsylvania on July 30 for an annual trip to see family in Maine. According to Boston.com, Brown’s mother claimed she had been “hallucinating” and posting “disturbing” videos on Facebook since late July.

The mother, the daughter and their pet had been camping alongside rest stops on their way back to their family camp. Brown told authorities that she wanted to teach Fiona about keeping nature “clean.”

Brown said her daughter and the dog were alive when she last left them in the vehicle. She claimed that she then slipped and fell into the river and was “fighting to stay above water,” according to the affidavit obtained by Boston.com.

Police found the child’s body “resting, face down, on the driver’s side seat very close to the driver’s side door,” while the dog’s head was resting on her foot, the outlet reported.

Brown’s family later reported her to police, stating that she had been acting odd and claiming she had been seeing spirits, per WABI.

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The affidavit obtained by Boston.com alleges that Brown “began to scream” when she learned of the deaths of her daughter and dog.

While Brown, who was covered in scratches and bruises, told police that she fell into the river, surveillance footage allegedly contradicted her claims, according to WABI and WCHS, and her clothes were not wet by the time she returned to the vehicle.

“Kelly Brown’s alternative explanation for abandoning her daughter and dog in the locked closed car on a hot August day contradicts the surveillance video and observations of the law enforcement officers when she appeared on the scene and was later interviewed,” the affidavit said, per Boston.com.

According to WABI and WCHS, a judge placed Brown’s bail at $50,000.

Police said they found no other signs of the possible causes of death for the child beyond heat exposure. The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta then determined the girl’s probable cause of death was the result of being left in the car for hours on end, WCHS reported.

Attorneys and the judge agreed to meet again on Sept. 26, according to WCHS. Brown’s case will then go in front of a grand jury.