Police say she left her toddler in a hot car. She says she fell in a river.

A Pennsylvania woman who is charged with manslaughter in her daughter’s death in Maine said she was “swept away” by a river while her daughter died in a car Saturday, an affidavit filed in court shows. 

Kelly Brown, 40, was arrested by Maine State Police early Sunday morning after her 3-year-old daughter, Fiona, apparently died from hyperthermia after being in a locked car for more than 14 hours on Saturday, police said. 

Penobscot County Sheriff’s officers found Fiona and Penelope, a 13-year-old family dog, deceased in a car parked in a Freshie’s convenience store in Milford Saturday evening. 

Brown’s mother: Brown was “hallucinating,” said voices were “telling her what to do”

Brown’s mother told police Brown and Fiona were supposed to return to a camp Brown’s mother owns in Maine on Aug. 7, after a trip to visit Brown’s grandmother. But, they did not. 

Brown, Fiona, and Penelope left Pennsylvania July 30 to take an annual monthly trip to see family in Maine, her mother said, according to the affidavit.

In a phone call, Brown told her mother that she and Fiona were camping along the Penobscot River, the affidavit says.

“Kelly Brown reported to (Brown’s mother) that she had been hallucinating, was hearing voices of shamans, and seeing people that weren’t there,” the affidavit said. “Kelly Brown also said that the voices she was hearing were telling her what to do.”

Her mother also said Brown had been posting “disturbing” videos to her Facebook account since July 25, and her behavior had “significantly” changed. 

Brown’s mother lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and owns a camp in Clifton, Maine, the affidavit said.

Brown’s husband usually accompanies the family on the annual trip, but could not attend this year due to being unable to take off of work, the affidavit said.

Brown told police her daughter, dog were alive in the car when she left them

Brown said in the affidavit that she, Fiona, and Penelope were camping along the Penobscot River in various locations and rest stops on the way back to the camp in Clifton. 

Brown told detectives that she noticed an abundance of trash at the different rest areas, and wanted to teach Fiona about nature and “how to keep it clean,” so they began to pick up the trash. 

Brown said she and Fiona spent Friday and Saturday cleaning outside a Freshies convenience store alongside the river, and a manager provided them gloves and trash bags on Friday. 

On Saturday, Brown told police, she left Fiona and Penelope inside the locked car around 2 p.m. while she went to throw away a garbage bag in the dumpster behind Freshies, the affidavit said. 

According to Brown, both Fiona and Penelope were alive when she left them in the locked car. 

While carrying a trash bag to the dumpster, Brown said, she slipped and she fell into the river after reaching down to grab fallen trash that had blown down the embankment, the affidavit said. 

Brown said she was “fighting to stay above water” and was thrown repeatedly against the rocks, but managed to reach the other side of the river, according to the affidavit.

Offiers find deceased toddler, dog’s body

Penobscot County Sheriff’s officers found the toddler and dog deceased inside a vehicle parked behind a Freshies convenience store in Milford Saturday night, according to the affidavit.

“Fiona Brown’s body was resting, face down, on the driver’s side seat very close to the driver’s side door,” the affidavit said. “Her upper torso was resting on the seat cushion, and her knees were resting on the driver’s side floor.”

Photographs determined that the dog’s head was resting on Fiona’s right foot, according to the affidavit. 

Surveillance footage from Saturday around 5:56 a.m. depicts Brown exiting a white Nissan Murano and disappearing off screen, according to the affidavit. Brown did not return to the scene until 8:30 p.m., after police and EMS had arrived, the affidavit said. 

When Brown returned to the Freshies, she said she didn’t know what was going on and assumed Fiona had been taken to the hospital.   

Brown told police she left her daughter in a locked car while taking a trash bag to a dumpster. While attempting to pick up strewn trash, she said she fell into the Penobscot River, according to the affidavit.

Brown said her clothes were dry because it had been “hours” since she allegedly fell in the river, the affidavit said. 

Brown allowed detectives to photograph multiple scratches and bruises on her lower arms and legs, injuries she said she sustained when she fell in the river. 

The affidavit said Brown “began to scream” when she was informed that Fiona and Penelope had died, saying they were “her world.”

Mother charged with manslaughter in daughter’s death

After Brown was medically cleared at Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center, she was arrested and taken to Penobscot County Jail.

She was charged with manslaughter at the Penobscot Judicial Center on Monday and is in custody on $50,000 bail, court documents show.

No attorney information for Brown was publicly listed.

The affidavit alleges Brown acted “recklessly” by leaving Fiona in a locked car on a hot day. 

“Kelly Brown’s alternative explanation for abandoning her daughter and dog in the locked closed car on a hot August day contradicts the surveillance video and observations of the law enforcement officers when she appeared on the scene and was later interviewed,” the affidavit said. 

Want to leave a comment?

Create an Account Or sign in to your account

To comment, please create a screen name in your profile

To comment, please verify your email address

Conversation

This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com