DECATUR, NY - In June 2018, sheriff’s deputies in Otsego County, got a call that a premature infant had died in a bassinet at home.

The baby boy, Liam, who was several weeks old, was born prematurely and had only been home about a week. His twin sister, Bonde, was still in the hospital.

Authorities initially suspected SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Several days later, Bonde came home from the hospital. The baby died the first night home in her bassinet, her mom told police.

The second death triggered an investigation, which earlier this week resulted in the indictment of the infants’ mother, Kimberly Steeley, 27, of Decatur. She was indicted on two counts of second-degree manslaughter. Decatur is 20 miles southeast of Cooperstown.

The medical examiner ruled the two babies had died of asphyxiation, Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said in an interview Friday with Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. Police initially had declined to release details of how the babies had died.

Steeley, who had originally told police both died in their bassinets, told authorities she’d been sleeping with the infants when they got tangled up in the blankets and suffocated, Muehl said. The mother said the deaths were accidental.

Muehl said the grand jury was presented the evidence, and indicted Steeley on manslaughter charges.

The babies’ father was asleep at the time of both deaths, Muehl said.

Under New York state law, a person is guilty of second-degree manslaughter if he or she recklessly causes the death of another person.

She was arraigned May 8 and remanded to the Otsego County Jail on $10,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond. She is currently not housed in the jail, records show.