Hi John,
I believe that the problem was that no one could definitively confirm the cause of death. Unless we can pinpoint the cause, then it becomes difficult to know, without a reasonable doubt, the who.
What if the baby did drown in the pool. Casey was asleep after partying all night in some nightclub. She gets up, finds the baby drowned, knowing that parents have done time for such negligence, she determines to hide the corpse long enough to make it impossible to determine the cause.
If the baby drowned, was it an accident? Even if Casey was asleep on the living room couch? Personally I find that we are society that finds some sort of macabre delight in finding someone guilty in another's death. 50 years ago, a child could wander away from a parents home while they were, for whatever reason preoccupied, and fallen into a lake, pool or canal and drowned and as a society we would have been sympathetic and share in the parent's suffering. Today they are found negligent and put in jail.
50 years ago a child could have died in an automobile accident and we would have sympathized with the parents and shared in their sorrow. Today, if they weren't secured in an approved car seat we find them guilty of negligence and they go to jail.
Even in the world of industrial accidents, someone has to pay! There must be 'justice' for another's death. There are no such things as 'accidents'. Someone, somewhere, somehow was negligent. 50 years ago that would not have been the case. Now, some may call this progress. I don't! I find that we should be more forgiving and understanding in a lot of similar cases and afford parents and co-workers the benefit of the doubt. If there was some negligence, then God will sort it out.
Now, I imagine some might say, 'Well, if the one who died was a breadwinner, then the family deserves some justice and that can only come if fault is placed.' Well, believe it or not people have been dying on the job for centuries, Jesus even spoke of several who were working on a tower in Siloam. When those breadwinners died the remaining family just carried on as best they could. Often the wife would remarry and life would work itself out. Yes, there was certainly a period of pain and worry about paying the bills, but this is where God calls us to be merciful and helpful.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts regarding this incident. I don't know what happened when that baby died, but I do know that there is a righteous judge and if there was anything done that He would find 'wrong', He will make a righteous judgment. Finally, as believers in Christ and the truth of God's word, God calls us to forgive. Consider that in His eyes, her sin is no smaller or greater than mine or yours.
God bless you all,
In Christ, Ted
