KIRKLAND, Wash. — Prosecutors have charged a Kirkland mother with first-degree manslaughter, alleging she recklessly caused the death of her 10-year-old daughter by failing to seek emergency medical care during a two-day road trip in July despite clear signs of a life-threatening diabetic emergency.
Lloydina Shnea McAllister, 42, was charged in King County Superior Court this month in the death of her daughter, who had Type 1 diabetes and relied on an insulin pump. According to charging documents, the child arrived at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma on July 18, already deceased. Hospital staff recorded her postmortem blood glucose at 700 mg/dL, which is more than seven times the upper end of the normal range.
Detectives say McAllister, her boyfriend, and her three children left on what she described as a “family road trip” on July 17, initially telling investigators they were headed to Medford, Oregon. Cell phone records, however, showed the family had driven more than 700 miles south to the Sacramento area before turning around. Over the course of the trip, investigators say they passed 31 open hospitals along the Interstate 5 corridor without stopping for help, and made no calls to 911…