Who Is Cassie Barker? New Details About The Cop Whose 3-Year-Old Died In A Hot Patrol Car While She Had Sex With Her Boss
She left her daughter in the car to go hook up with her supervisor.
Instagram A Mississippi cop could get 20 years in prison after she left her 3-year-old daughter in a hot car while she had sex with her supervisor. The child, Cheyenne Hyer, died.
Her mother, 29-year-old Cassie Barker, pleaded guilty on Monday to culpable negligence manslaughter. She accepted a plea deal to a lesser charge after she was initially charged with second-degree murder.
Barker will be sentenced on April 1, and prosecutors are recommending she serve 20 years.
“I don’t know what I could ever do to you that could be worse than what you’ve already experienced,” Harrison County Circuit Judge Larry Bourgeois told her in court. “You will forever be entombed in a prison of your own mind.”
So who is Cassie Barker? Here's everything we know.
1. She left the A/C on.
On Sept. 30, 2016, Barker went to her supervisor Clark Ladner's home to talk to him at the end of her shift. She left her patrol car running with the air conditioner on — but the vent wasn't blowing out any cold air.
And it was 100 degrees outside.
2. She left the child in the car for four hours.
While inside Ladner's home, they ended up having sex. After the hookup, Baker fell asleep inside the home, leaving her daughter strapped inside her car seat for a total of four hours.
At the time, she said she had been working two jobs. Ladner said he didn't know the child was in the car.
When Barker returned to the patrol car, she found Hyer unresponsive. The child was rushed to a nearby hospital, where her body temperature was found to be 107 degrees.
After her death, both Barker and Ladner were fired from the police department.
3. She had done it before.
This wasn't the first time Barker left her child in the car unattended.
According to police, the former officer left Hyer in her car while she went into a store. A good Samaritan called the police.
4. The child's father is outraged.
Ryan Hyer, the 3-year-old's father, was obviously heartbroken and outraged over his daughter's death.
“Every time I close my eyes, I picture her suffering and then I picture her laying in this coffin,” he said. “I still see her smiling and laughing in my head and I would assume that smile and laughter turned to pain and suffering in that instance. It’s an image I don’t want to have, but it’s one I can’t get rid of.”
5. He's suing the police department and child protection services.
Ryan Hyer is particularly upset that the police department didn't notify him the first time Barker left their child in a car. He thinks child protective services should have done something, and the police only put Barker on administrative leave.
“As a parent, you are supposed to protect your child, and Cheyenne is gone because her mother didn’t protect her, not once but twice,” Hyer said. “May God have mercy on her soul.”
6. Barker suffered from childhood trauma.
A psychological exam revealed that Barker — who has remained free on bond since she was first arrested for her daughter's death — suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to childhood trauma and her daughter's death.
Still, she was found competent to stand trial, and showed up in yoga pants, a t-shirt and her hair up in a bun to enter her guilty plea on Monday.
7. She's pregnant.
According to her lawyer, Barker is currently pregnant with her second child. She plans to give it up for adoption.
“We were told there are a million people who have babies while they are in prison,” her attorney Damian Holcomb said. “The way it works is once you are medically cleared (after giving birth), you go back to whatever prison you are supposed to go back to.”
Emily Blackwood is a writer and editor living in California. She covers all things news, pop culture, and true crime.