A 24-year-old Cecil County mother was arrested on Dec. 11 after her 5-week-old daughter was found dead a week earlier in a Rising Sun residence, state police said. Destiny Faith Chiveral is held without bond as investigators continue gathering evidence in the case.
Maryland State Police said they began a death investigation on Dec. 4 after a 911 call from a home on Leedle Circle, where emergency crews pronounced the infant dead shortly after 9 a.m. Detectives later seized Chiveral’s phone, obtained search warrants and reviewed late-night Snapchat videos that, along with medical examiner findings of trauma, formed the basis for murder and child abuse charges. The case remains under investigation, with prosecutors from the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office consulted throughout. The child’s name has not been publicly released; police have identified her only as a 5-week-old girl related to the accused.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Dec. 4, paramedics and troopers responded to the unit block of Leedle Circle for an unresponsive infant. Medics pronounced the baby dead at 9:17 a.m., according to police reports. In an initial account to detectives, Chiveral said she awakened to find the child unresponsive and suggested the baby might have rolled between a couch cushion and the back of the couch hours earlier. Investigators later documented that Chiveral had been at a social gathering in the same home the night before. In recorded statements summarized in charging documents, Chiveral told police she had one drink and a shot and denied harming her daughter. “I would never do that,” she said during a second interview after learning the death had been ruled a homicide, according to investigators.
Charging documents describe a different picture from the hours before the 911 call. Detectives said Snapchat videos sent from Chiveral’s account between 11:06 p.m. on Dec. 3 and 1:34 a.m. on Dec. 4 showed her intoxicated while the baby was present in the Rising Sun residence. The baby can be heard crying in several clips, police wrote. In one video, Chiveral appears to struggle with a baby gate while cursing and vaping, according to the documents. In another, recorded in a bathroom, she comments on the child crying in the background. A final clip at 1:34 a.m. showed the baby alive; investigators noted a framed wall picture that was straight in the video later appeared significantly askew at the scene. Police said a nearly empty bottle of vodka was found inside the residence, and a witness told investigators it had been almost full days earlier and belonged to Chiveral.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy that found signs of blunt force trauma, including bleeding to the back of the brain, along with other injuries, according to police. Paramedics observed the infant’s body was cold with early rigor mortis, suggesting she had been dead for some time before first responders arrived, the documents state. Investigators said Chiveral raised several possible explanations in a follow-up interview, including that she sometimes sleepwalked when she drank and might have kicked the baby while both were on the couch. She also told police her older child, a toddler, could be rough with the infant, but investigators noted the toddler was not at the home that night.
State police arrested Chiveral on Dec. 11 after consulting with the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office. She faces counts of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, first-degree child abuse resulting in the death of a child under 13, and child abuse resulting in severe bodily injury. She was processed at the North East Barrack and ordered held without bond at the Cecil County Detention Center following an initial appearance before a district court commissioner. Prosecutors have not announced a charging document beyond the initial statement of charges. A specific circuit or district court hearing date was not immediately available from authorities Saturday. The investigation remains active, and detectives said additional findings will be provided to prosecutors as they are developed.
Rising Sun is a small town in northeastern Maryland near the Pennsylvania line. Police said the death investigation began at a single-family home on Leedle Circle, with homicide detectives later taking over the case. The infant’s death has drawn attention in Cecil County because of the child’s age and the role social media recordings may play as evidence. Local broadcasters reported the timeline of videos and the autopsy’s findings of trauma, and state police issued a public notice of the arrest on Dec. 11. Authorities have not released a motive and have not detailed a specific sequence of events inside the home in the hours between the last video and the 9:17 a.m. pronouncement.
Investigators obtained search warrants for Chiveral’s phone, her person and two residences connected to her, according to police. Evidence recovered from those searches helped establish probable cause for the current charges. Chiveral was advised of the homicide ruling during a follow-up interview, the documents state, and detectives noted her remark: “Nothing I say is going to fix this, is it? No matter what, I’m going to be blamed for her death, ain’t I?” The state medical examiner has not publicly released a full autopsy report beyond investigators’ summary in court filings. Police said further laboratory analyses are pending, and the agency did not disclose whether any additional forensic testing, such as toxicology, has been requested.
Neighbors on the block said the street was quiet on the morning emergency crews arrived, with one resident recalling flashing lights and a cluster of vehicles near the address. The home sits in a residential neighborhood off Route 273, a short drive from Charlestown, where charging documents list Chiveral’s residence with relatives. A witness told police the nearly empty vodka bottle found at the scene had been placed in the freezer days earlier nearly full; detectives documented that detail alongside the Snapchat timeline. A photo frame on a wall was later described as “significantly ajar” compared to its position in the 1:34 a.m. video, according to the investigative summary.
As of Sunday, Chiveral remained jailed without bond at the county detention center while prosecutors review evidence and prepare the case for court. State police said the inquiry is ongoing and that updates will be provided as they are available. No additional arrests have been announced. The next public milestone is expected when court schedules reflect the first full hearing before a judge in Cecil County.
Author note: Last updated December 14, 2025.