Friend says caregiver may have given babies Benadryl at illegal Bellevue daycare

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - For the first time, WSMV4 is hearing a caregiver may have been giving kids Benadryl inside an illegal Bellevue daycare. That daycare was at an apartment where Metro Nashville Police say a 3-month-old baby was found dead this week. They say the caregiver, Anne Jordan, was nowhere to be found and abandoned six other babies inside.

MNPD says Jordan reported she found the 3-month-old in a bassinette unconscious. She tried to give him CPR and when he didn’t wake up, she fled and attempted to commit suicide. An old friend of Jordan’s says she saw possible signs of neglect a few years ago.

It was provocative photos on Jordan’s Facebook page that had the old friend of hers asking questions.

“If you had just scrolled through her social media, I guarantee most parents would be like ‘I don’t feel comfortable,’” said the friend who asked to remain anonymous.

She says Jordan’s posts were dramatic, victimized and mentioned suicidal thoughts.

“As a parent, if I would have seen that on her Facebook page, I would have gone over and immediately taken my kids out of the house,” the friend said.

She claims Jordan and her lost touch. A few years ago, they would talk on the phone for hours. She says Jordan was inside her Bellevue apartment looking over children.

“What did she tell you on the phone when she was watching the kids?” asks WSMV4′s Marissa Sulek. “Was it during when she was watching kids?”

“She would call me often during the day when her kids were ‘napping,’” she claims.

The friend also says she never heard children in the background, and Jordan was often hungover.

“Some of the conversations were like she seemed intoxicated, or she was just going to have a glass of wine,” she said.

That’s also when she mentioned something else.

“It was along the lines of, ‘I wish I could just give these kids Benadryl so I could sleep off my hangover,’” the friend remembers.

In a complaint obtained by WSMV4 from the Tennessee Department of Human Services, we learned Monday afternoon a mom and another parent were knocking on Jordan’s apartment door for almost 15 minutes. When she didn’t answer, they went inside the unlocked door. The complaint says the mom found her son cold to the touch and not breathing.

When the friend heard the baby died this week, she had a thought.

“In my mind, it immediately went back to the Benadryl conversation,” she said.

She says a few years ago, she never had enough proof to go to the police. Now, she feels a sense of guilt.

“I know that you didn’t report to police in 2019 when you got this information,” Sulek said. “Do you wish you did at this point?”

“Oh, 100% of course,” she responded.

MNPD says they still don’t know the cause of the baby’s death. They are awaiting toxicology reports before any charges are filed and say Jordan has no criminal history.

The friend says she reported her experience to the MNPD after she heard about the baby’s death this week.

A private memorial service was held for the 3-month-old on Monday, April 17.

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