Northern Indiana mom sentenced in girl’s fatal SUV fall

ELKHART, Ind. — A northern Indiana woman who admitted lying to police officers by telling them her young daughter was killed by a hit-and-run driver has been sentenced to five years in prison.

An Elkhart County judge on Thursday sentenced 22-year-old Mande Turner-Berger of Goshen on child neglect and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the death of 19-month-old Mariah Gibson in May.

Police say the girl died in Goshen when she was put into a car seat and fell out of an SUV being driven by her mother’s boyfriend, but that they lied to cover up what happened.

The Elkhart Truth reports that Turner-Berger said in court that she had already received a lifelong sentence without her daughter and was sorry for what happened.