A newborn baby in Idaho was found dead. Parents face felony charges

NAMPA, Idaho — An investigation is underway after an infant was found dead at a Nampa home, leading to the arrest of the child's parents.

According to police, officers received a 911 call on Dec. 16 that indicated an infant had died near Lone Star Road and South Canyon Street in Nampa. Emergency first responders were dispatched to the scene, where they found the dead baby. The father of the child, Brian Lemke, 31, was still at the scene when first responders arrived.

Lemke told police that the mother, Allysen Armenta, 28, was not present, but officers later found her hiding in a "camp trailer in the backyard," where she was arrested without incident.

Lemke and Armenta are both charged with failure to notify death and injury to a child, as well as destroying evidence and resisting or obstructing officers.

Nampa police say the investigation revealed that the child had died elsewhere and was later moved to the home, though an autopsy is still needed to determine the cause of death. Police spokesperson Carmen Boeger told the Idaho Statesman in a message that the infant was 12 days old at the time of death.

A former foster parent, who has since adopted some of Lemke and Armenta's other children, told KIVI-TV Idaho News 6 they had urged Idaho Health and Welfare and Nampa police to conduct a welfare check on the family weeks before the arrests.

The couple was also previously jailed in 2019 after officers with the Ada County Sheriff's Office discovered three toddlers living in "dangerous and dirty conditions" in a South Boise home. Lemke and Armenta both pleaded guilty to three counts of injury to a child and received a misdemeanor sentence, ultimately spending one day in jail each before being released on supervised probation.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact detective Mason Foster at 208-565-5174.

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