The moment Detective Caitlyn Harris stepped into the apartment, the smell hit her like a wall. Feces. Rotting food. Something deeply, overwhelmingly wrong.
She couldn’t see the floor. It was covered in garbage, chicken bones, fast food bags, overturned furniture, dirty clothes, toys, and human waste. Feces were smeared across the walls, layered on a crib mattress. The temperature inside hovered between 46 and 51 degrees.
Two children lived here. A three-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister, Skyler. By the time police arrived on the evening of January 25th, 2025, Skyler was already dead. Her mother, Chantel, had found her underneath a dresser.
The toddler was in rigor mortis. She had bruises, frostbite on her hands and feet, bite marks on her body—one theorized to be from a rat—and a puncture wound on her neck, also believed to be from a rodent. But Chantel didn’t call 911 right away. She changed Skyler’s dirty shirt first.
Then she called her boyfriend, Brian. He came over and waited in the common area. Only then did she finally call for help. Chantel Monae, 33, wanted to be a rapper.
She went by Chantel Monae, Shanny B, or Shanny B Music. She promoted herself on social media and released songs on Spotify and Apple Music. She had a remote job as an insurance collector and dreamed of making it in the music scene. She had two young children.
Her son was born in September 2021. Skyler Rose Gardener came a year later, in early September 2022, born prematurely. Chantel posted about her birth on Instagram, captioning it, “God gave me something I never knew I needed. She brings peace to my crazy world.
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But she admitted she felt closer to her older son. She described Skyler as an independent baby. Maybe that was why it was easier to ignore her. Chantel had recently gone through a divorce.
Her ex-husband was disabled and gave her full custody, believing he couldn’t properly care for the children. He tried to visit or call them. Chantel made excuses or ignored him. When his older children last saw Skyler and her brother, they told their father the kids smelled like urine.
A close friend said Chantel developed postpartum depression after Skyler’s birth, made worse by the stress of the divorce. In July 2024, she allegedly reached out to her ex-husband, overwhelmed, asking him to take the children. She even offered to send money. He didn’t take her up on it.
Then she stopped trying. Between July and August 2024, the mess in her apartment became too much. She stopped cleaning altogether. That extended to her children’s daily needs—fewer baths, fewer diaper changes, fewer meals.
By October 2024, she was leaving them unattended. At first, she’d meet Brian in the apartment parking lot, checking on the kids regularly. Soon, she made quick trips to the store or for takeout while they stayed home alone. Then she’d be gone for hours, even a day or two.
She turned on YouTube to keep them entertained. They loved Ms. Rachel. She treated them less like children and more like houseplants.
She visited inconsistently to drop off food. She’d clean them once a week or less. Skyler had human waste caked in her hair. She constantly had severe diaper rash, possibly an infection.
Her son had a habit of smearing his own excrement on the walls—a behavior called scatolia, rooted in sensory, medical, or psychological issues. Chantel thought it was normal. She couldn’t leave the kids with family or friends anymore. Someone might see their condition.
She didn’t fix her broken furnace because the maintenance team would see the apartment. She borrowed a space heater from a coworker instead. She planned her visits home around expected phone calls from family, so the kids could be put on the line and no one would ask to visit in person. She was more worried about getting caught than about her children.
While Skyler and her brother were hungry, cold, and sitting in dirty diapers, Chantel routinely spent nights at Brian’s apartment. His brother lived with him. He estimated Chantel visited three to five days a week. He knew she had children, but he only saw them three times total.
The last time was in December, for Brian’s 39th birthday. He said the kids seemed fine, though he noticed a red discoloration on their feet. Then came January 25th. Chantel’s friend LA—one of her former go-to sitters—invited the family to Chuck E.
Cheese. LA hadn’t seen the children in person since Halloween, when they seemed clean and cared for. Chantel gave no real answer to the invitation. That evening, she arrived at the apartment with food.
Her son came when she called. Skyler didn’t respond. Chantel searched the apartment. She found her daughter underneath a dresser, stiff in rigor mortis.
When questioned, her timeline kept changing. She first said she dropped her son off with Brian, then backtracked—Brian was at the apartment and came to the door. Skyler didn’t run to greet her as usual. She said she knew something was wrong.
She told police she knew her neglect was wrong. She insisted she never physically harmed her children, as if that were the only way to hurt them. Brian initially backed up her story, then admitted he lied to protect his girlfriend. He told detectives Chantel spent many nights at his apartment without her children.
He believed her when she said the kids were with friends or family. He last saw them in December. LA was horrified. She said she talked to Chantel daily or every other day.
She had no idea the kids were home alone. She said many people would have taken them if Chantel needed help. “They have a group of friends who all would have stepped up. ”
The autopsy was performed on January 27th.
Dr. Christopher Pulos found bite marks, frostbite, round pattern bruising possibly from a PVC pipe or furniture, and multiple post-mortem injuries including the puncture wound on Skyler’s neck from a rodent. Internally, she had bruising throughout her body, a right frontal bruise, and hemorrhagic pancreatitis, possibly from hypothermia. She was dehydrated.
Her stomach contained hair and unknown contents, possibly feces. She had possible paint chips and foreign bodies in her intestines. The cause of death was hypothermia. A nurse practitioner from Riley Children’s Hospital, where Skyler’s brother was being evaluated, said the bruising patterns were suspicious for non-accidental trauma consistent with inflicted trauma.
There was little chance Skyler was injured by accident. Skyler’s brother showed severe neglect. He was possessive of hospital food, devouring it desperately, crying if someone took his plate. He ate so fast nurses had to intervene.
His stomach was distended from constipation, his feet swollen, and he had scars from hyperpigmentation. Chantel was initially arrested for neglect of a dependent. Her charges were increased to murder. She was denied bond.
Brian was charged with assisting her in lying to investigators. Brian went missing from January 26th to January 30th. During that time, he called Chantel in jail and recorded the call, which was later published online. In it, he confronted her about her treatment of the children.
She admitted wrongdoing but said, “I don’t know why they keep including you. You wouldn’t even be a part of this. ”
When he asked why she didn’t ask for help, saying he would have put the children first, she was quiet. Finally, she said, “I didn’t want to be a burden.
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Skyler’s family planned a balloon release in her memory. They canceled it but instead organized a donation of new clothes, toys, and books for Skyler’s brother. His oldest half-sibling posted a photo of the donation pile, thanking those who contributed. “We are forever grateful.
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Skyler was one of four Indianapolis children who died in January 2025. One of them, a three-year-old named Asher Robinson, died the same day she did, at the same hospital where her brother was being treated. Chantel and Brian’s trial is set to begin in April. If convicted, Chantel faces up to 40 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
She would be in her 70s upon release. As of February 2025, there has been no funeral service or public obituary for Skyler. Her story will be reported again during the trial. We’ll have to wait and see what else comes out.
Her brother is in a safer place now, free from the filth and neglect that took his little sister from him.
