Mother Accused of Drowning Daughter in Tub After Argument Over Refusal to Give Teen Diabetes Medication

A Florida mom was arrested and charged last week on accusations she drowned her 14-year-old daughter.

Police responded to a report of an “armed disturbance” at a home in Kissimmee, Fla., on Wed., Nov. 20, where they discovered 14-year-old Giselle Glover unresponsive, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. She was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Emergency dispatchers were told that a woman, later identified as the victim’s mother Kelsey Michelle Glover, had drowned Giselle and attacked the caller with knives and a hammer, per the statement.

The local medical examiner determined Giselle died from drowning and declared her death a homicide.

Giselle had diabetes, and the incident allegedly stemmed from Kelsey’s decision to stop administering her daughter’s insulin, which led to an argument between Kelsey and her roommate, according to unspecified court filings obtained by WFTV.

Authorities said that without her medicine, Giselle quickly began feeling violently ill, WFTV and FOX 35 Orlando reported, citing unspecified court documents. The roommate told investigators that Kelsey allegedly trapped the child in a bedroom, playing loud music to drown out her cries for help, per FOX 35 Orlando. 

On Nov. 20, Kelsey allegedly “put her daughter in the bathtub and grabbed her by the hair and held her head underwater,” according to a pretrial detention filing cited by WESH.

When the roommate tried to intervene, Kelsey allegedly attacked her with a hammer, per authorities, WFTV, FOX 35 Orlando and WESH reported, citing court documents.

In a GoFundMe set up to help bring her body to his hometown in Virginia, Giselle’s father wrote a moving letter to his “Princess,” whom he says was so smart she’d often leave family members googling words she’d used.

“You never let your type 1 diabetes define you or hold you back,” wrote her dad, DJ. “Instead, you turned it into something that inspired us all, showing us how to take life’s challenges and turn them into stepping stones.”

“There’s so much I’ll never get to do with you, things I had dreamed of like buying your first car, spending my whole check on your prom dress, walking you down the aisle, and sharing that first father-daughter dance,” he wrote in a final letter to his daughter, shared on GoFundMe. “But I hold tight to the memories we did make, and I take comfort in knowing you were loved beyond measure.”

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Kelsey faces a first-degree murder charge, the sheriff’s office said in their statement. It wasn’t immediately clear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office at (407) 348-2222.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.