Last Week, Diane Natasha Mack, 34, was indicted by a Highlands County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence in connection with the Nov. 15 death of her 13-year-old adopted daughter.
Mack was also indicted on two counts of third-degree felony child abuse after the investigation revealed abuse to two other children who lived in the home at 4015 Bianca St. in Sebring.
Deputies were called to the home at 12:19 a.m. Friday, November 15. When they arrived, they found a 13-year-old girl unresponsive on the floor next to the front door. She was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS.
Mack told deputies she had found the girl unresponsive Thursday morning, but later said it was closer to 3 p.m. Regardless of when she made the discovery, she still took the time to drive the four other children who lived in the home to Titusville and return to Sebring before she called for help for her child, who was lying unresponsive on the floor of the home.
The girl, who was nude except for a diaper, had clearly been severely abused. She was extremely emaciated and obviously malnourished. Her body was covered in wounds in all stages of healing, including open lacerations that were clearly recently suffered. Further investigation of the home revealed evidence that indicates the girl, who was home-schooled, was restrained in the garage. Detectives don’t yet know how long she had been held there, but it appears she was secured to the garage door and monitored from inside the home by a security camera that had been mounted in the garage.
