Evansville, Ind. — Leon was 3 years old. He was born with paralyzed vocal cords, breathed through a tracheostomy tube, ate through a feeding tube and needed care around the clock. In late December 2025, after his mother was arrested, Leon was placed in foster care in Indiana. Within days of that placement, he was back in the hospital. By the second week of January, he was dead.
Now his mother, Nicole Marrero of Evansville, has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the foster parents who were caring for him, WFIE 14 News and Law&Crime reported in September. The lawsuit alleges that Leon’s death was preventable with basic maintenance of his breathing tube.
What happened to Leon in foster care
According to WFIE, Leon was hospitalized for weeks in September 2025 with a respiratory illness and the flu. On Sept. 22, Marrero left her youngest child at home with her 14-year-old daughter while she went to get food with a friend, then fell asleep at the friend’s house, her attorney, Jonathan Danks, said. The teen called police when her mother did not come home. Marrero was arrested and charged with child neglect. That case is still pending, and she is presumed innocent.
In late December, hospital officials determined Leon’s condition had stabilized, and he was placed with a foster family. The complaint says those foster parents did not know how to care for his medical needs, WFIE reported.
Within days, his feeding tube became dislodged. The complaint alleges the foster parents did not discover and correct it in a reasonable time. Leon was readmitted for emergency care, then returned to the same foster home.
On the morning of Jan. 4, 2026, a foster parent called 911 because Leon was struggling to breathe. According to the complaint quoted by Law&Crime, Leon
“was having trouble breathing and had been visibly turning blue from an intermittent lack of oxygen.”
Wrongful-death complaint, as quoted by Law&Crime
Danks told WFIE that Leon’s tracheostomy tube was not properly cleaned and a mucus plug blocked it. He said the resulting suffocation caused a fatal heart attack. Leon died in the hospital three days later.
What the lawsuit alleges
The complaint alleges the foster parents were aware of Leon’s significant medical needs yet were “not adequately prepared, trained, or capable to provide the necessary life-sustaining care,” according to Law&Crime. Among the failures it lists is a “Failure to obtain the proper training required to care for Leon’s medical needs.”
The complaint also says the trach tube needed constant cleaning and a humidification device, and that Leon was on an oxygen monitor set to alarm. Marrero has requested a jury trial and is seeking damages for medical bills, funeral expenses and Leon’s death. The foster parents’ attorney declined to comment to WFIE. The foster parents have not been named publicly, and the allegations have not been proven in court.
Who approved this placement?
The lawsuit targets the foster parents. But Danks told WFIE that responsibility goes beyond them, and he suggested new laws, stricter oversight by the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS), or changes to the foster care system as possible solutions.
That is the question that matters. Indiana’s foster care system is run by DCS. A medically fragile toddler who could not speak, could not eat by mouth and depended on a breathing tube was moved out of a hospital and into a home that, according to the lawsuit, did not have the training to keep that tube clear. After a first emergency, he was sent back to the same home.
Who decided that home was appropriate? What training, if any, was required before a child with a tracheostomy was placed there? Were relatives who knew Leon’s care considered? Public reporting has not answered those questions.
The pattern: removal without a plan
FAN’s position is that most children are better off with their own families, and that families in crisis need help, not removal. Leon’s mother faces a pending neglect charge, and that case will be decided in court. But the system’s response to one night’s alleged lapse was to take a child whose survival depended on specialized, practiced care and hand him to strangers who, the lawsuit says, were not ready.
When the state removes a child, it does not just take custody. It takes responsibility. A removal that puts a medically fragile child in greater danger than the home he was taken from is not protection. It is a failure of judgment, training and accountability.
What families can do
If your child has complex medical needs and is removed, tell the caseworker, the court and your attorney exactly what daily care your child requires, in writing. Ask what training the placement has received and request that your child’s doctors and home-health providers be consulted. Ask that relatives already trained in your child’s care be considered first. Raise every concern on the record at court hearings.
Key facts
- Child: Leon, 3, with paralyzed vocal cords, a tracheostomy and a feeding tube
- Placement: Late December 2025, after his mother’s Sept. 2025 arrest on a neglect charge (pending)
- First emergency: Feeding tube dislodged within days; Leon readmitted, then returned to the same foster home
- Fatal emergency: Jan. 4, 2026 911 call; attorney says a mucus plug blocked the trach; Leon died three days later
- Lawsuit: Wrongful death, filed by mother Nicole Marrero, represented by Jonathan Danks; jury trial requested
- Response: Foster parents’ attorney declined to comment; allegations unproven
Sources
- WFIE 14 News — Mother charged with neglect files wrongful death lawsuit against son’s foster parents (Sept. 9, 2026)
- Law&Crime — Foster parents ignored boy’s blocked breathing tube until he turned blue, died: Lawsuit (Sept. 14, 2026)
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