A former Florida Department of Children and Families employee has been arrested for allegedly abusing her 13-year-old adopted daughter, who was later found dead.
According to the Highland County Sheriff’s Office, Diane Natasha Mack, 34, a former guardian ad litem (GAL) and employee of the Florida Department of Children and Families, called police to report the death of her adopted daughter, 13, after discovering her “lying unresponsive” on a floor at their home in the Sun ‘n Lake of Sebring golf and recreation community early Tuesday at 12:19 a.m.
Highlands County Sheriff Paul Blackman said the authorities will not quickly forget what they found there.
“This is one of the most disturbing crime scenes I have encountered in more than 30 years of law enforcement,” Blackman said Wednesday in a sheriff’s office video announcing Mack’s arrest on murder and child abuse charges.
“There are no words I can say that can truly convey the nightmare that this child’s life must have been.”
According to Blackman, deputies allegedly discovered Mack’s daughter dead inside her house, only wearing a diaper and displaying “clear” symptoms of abuse and neglect.
According to the sheriff, Mack revised her time of finding from Tuesday morning, when she first informed authorities she had located the girl, to approximately 3 p.m.
“She was extremely emaciated and obviously malnourished,” Blackman said of Mack’s daughter.
“Her body was covered in wounds in all stages of healing, including open lacerations that were clearly recently suffered.”
The sheriff’s office said that once deputies looked into the matter further, they discovered evidence that the homeschooled child had been locked up in the garage before she died.
“It looks like she was strapped to the garage door and watched from inside the house by a security camera that was installed inside the garage, but we don’t know how long she had been there yet,” Blackman said.
Before dialing 911, police claim Mack tried to destroy evidence in the garage with pool chlorine while her child was “lying dead on the floor,” according to Blackman.
Before calling the police, she allegedly took the time to drive at least four other children who shared the house with her to another house near Titusville.
After being taken into custody, Mack was accused of first-degree murder, severe child abuse, kidnapping, and destroying evidence.
Blackman said, “Parents have a duty to love our children and make sure no harm comes their way.
“To see a child treated this way is not only heartbreaking, it is infuriating. What makes it even more appalling is that the suspect is a former employee of not only the Department of Children and Families, but also worked as a guardian ad-litem. That someone whose job it was to look after the welfare of children could treat their own child in this manner is simply beyond belief.”
Mack is being held at the Highlands County Jail without bail.
