DAD FOUND GUILTY OF LEVEL 3 FELONY NEGLECT FOR DEATH OF 12-YEAR-OLD DIABETIC DAUGHTER

Evansville, IN – Prosecutor Diana Moers announces that on October 1, 2025, Brent M. Bredhold was found guilty of Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, a Level 3 Felony, after a quick one hour and a half deliberation by the jury. The Honorable Judge Ryan D. Hatfield of the Vanderburgh County Circuit Court presided.

On July 4, 2024, EPD officers responded to a 911 call at 506 S. New York Ave. for the death of Alice Bredhold, a 12-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes. The forensic pathologist discovered that the cause of death was a life-threatening complication of diabetes called diabetic ketoacidosis. He also noted as contributors that the 12-year-old had a liver 4-times the normal size and a heart twice the normal size, both due to poorly controlled diabetes. Alice had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March 2020.

While many kids with Type 1 diabetes live long, mostly normal lives, Alice passed away within 4 years of her diagnosis. At trial, medical professionals testified that the Defendant—her dad—had known for years that kids with Type 1 diabetes must be consistently managed with direct adult supervision or the disease could be fatal. Poorly controlled diabetes causes inflammation, organ damage, and weakening of the immune system, such that kids are at greater risk of deadly conditions and worse outcomes from those conditions. The Defendant had been regularly offered education and training regarding the care of diabetes and the importance of supervision. In fact, Alice had been previously hospitalized on multiple occasions in the two years prior to her death for conditions related to her diabetes. On one such hospitalization, the poorly controlled diabetes was so readily apparent that the family was offered the services of a pediatric psychologist, but the parents did not follow through with the psychologist’s professional guidance.

The jury did not take long to return a guilty verdict for Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury. Serious bodily injury is defined to include a substantial risk of death.

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Lin stated: “This is a heartbreaking case where a 12-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes was left to fend for herself until her untimely death. Her parents should have been her strongest advocates to keep her healthy and alive, but unfortunately all they had to offer was apathy, indifference, and neglect. Parental responsibility is not a 9-5 job, to clock in or clock out when convenient. That said, this was an extreme case where Alice was not properly supervised for years, and the long-term neglect placed her in a precarious situation that cut her life short. Of the hundreds of Type 1 diabetic kids under the age of 18 seen by her pediatric endocrinologist, she was the only one to have died directly due to her diabetes. The true heroes in this case are the medical professionals and school staff who showed warmth and care to Alice and provided moments of respite in her daily life. Because of them, Alice at least knew that some people would fight for her well-being.