News and Investigations

On Thursday, September 10, 2026, PCSO deputies arrested 42-year-old Jessica Vlasac of Lakeland, charging her with aggravated child abuse (F1) resulting in the death of a 3-month-old infant who was in her care.

According to the affidavit, at approximately 11:58 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, 2026, deputies responded to Vlasac’s home after receiving a report that the baby boy was unresponsive. The baby was transported to Orlando Health Medical in Lakeland and was pronounced deceased shortly after. He had an abrasion and bruising on his head.

Vlasac told deputies that she had accidentally fallen asleep with the baby in the bed and that she did not remember anything else, and that when she woke up, she found the baby lying face down on the bed, not moving and cold to the touch. She made statements such as, “I think I killed our son,” and said she believed it happened while she was asleep.

An autopsy revealed that the baby had subdural hemorrhaging around the skull. Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Nelson identified three separate impact injuries to the baby’s head. The impact injuries were located on the top of the forehead. Dr. Nelson also identified a 1.7 cm by 1 cm L-shaped injury to the baby’s forehead, which he stated appeared to be consistent with being caused by a square-like object.

After the autopsy, detectives interviewed Vlasac again and observed her wearing a large, diamond-like stone ring on her ring finger that was consistent with the large, square-like shape mentioned in the autopsy. Detectives executed a search warrant for Vlasac’s devices, as well as her ring. During the search, Vlasac spontaneously asked if the ring was what killed the victim.

During interviews with other members of the household who were present at the time of the incident, nobody reported noticing anything suspicious. They stated that they assumed Vlasac and the infant were sleeping in Vlasac’s room and that they were unaware of anything happening until they heard her screaming.

In an interview with the infant’s father, he described Vlasac as someone who becomes violent when she consumes alcohol. 

The father showed detectives messages between himself and Vlasac from the night of the incident. The messages showed that Vlasac had purchased alcoholic shots at approximately noon that day. Later that night, she sent multiple messages stating that she had killed the infant and that he was dead. She had also deleted some messages.

The father stated that Vlasac called him a few days later and seemed unusually normal when discussing the death. He also said she asked him not to show detectives their messages.

In a follow-up examination, Dr. Nelson examined the ring that had been confiscated from Vlasac and advised that the victim’s injuries were consistent with being struck by the ring, as a part of the impact injuries. Furthermore, there was no evidence of co-sleeping causing the death.

Vlasac was taken into custody and booked into the Polk County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.

Click here for the video of Vlasac being arrested.