MAPLEWOOD • Police responding to the death of an infant at an unlicensed home day care in Maplewood found toddlers in playpens with heavy plastic shelving and crates on top to keep them from “escaping,” according to police and court documents.

Those court documents, used to obtain a sample of the 39-year-old day care operator’s blood, say police originally responded to a call Nov. 16 for a 3-month-old girl in cardiac arrest in the 3600 block of Cambridge Avenue. Firefighters and paramedics found the girl “cool to the touch,” with blue lips and “compression marks” on her face.

They began performing CPR. She was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

The day care operator, who was “acting hysterical,” said the girl had rolled onto her stomach and stopped breathing, court documents say. She told officers that the girl had repeatedly done that throughout the day, and that she had called the child’s parents.

Officers smelled alcohol on the day care owner’s breath, and later found an empty wine box in the trash, the documents say. They describe the way officers found children restrained in playpens in the house:

There were children in the home’s living room and the woman told officers that there was only one other child, on the second floor. They found that child in a playpen with a blanket on top, with heavy shelving on top of the blanket to “keep the child from escaping.” The woman then said there was another child, and police found a male toddler in a playpen in a closet with hanging clothes.

She then revealed that there was another child in the basement, and officers found a female toddler in another playpen with a blanket and shelving on top.

Officers were handcuffing the woman when they heard a noise, and found a male toddler in a closed, dark room with shelving and crates on top of a blanket keeping the child in.

The Post-Dispatch is not identifying the woman because no charges have been filed.

She was packing up her car Monday when approached by a Post-Dispatch reporter. She said she has closed the day care and is moving.

A Graco booster seat and Chicco stroller sat at the curb with trash cans, awaiting pickup.

The woman took a reporter on a tour of her home, pointing out where children slept.

She said that police were mischaracterizing the conditions at her home. She said police told parents that she was keeping the children in cages. The owner said she put shelving on the playpens only to keep the children from climbing out when they awoke from naps, and keep them from waking the other children. As soon as they would wake up, she said, they would call to her and she would go get them.

She also disputed that any children were not disclosed to police.

She said the infant had just started flipping onto her stomach the day of her death. She said she texted the girl’s parents to let them know. She thought the baby was breathing the last time she checked on her and called 911 as soon as she realized that she was not.

The former flight attendant and longtime caregiver also tried to perform CPR.

She has spoken to a lawyer, who advised her not to try to reach out to parents. She has not hired a lawyer, however.

She said she is a Mormon, and rarely drinks, but did the night before the baby’s death. She does not know the result of the blood test.

“I love my babies. I love my babies. I love my babies so much,” she said, saying her heart had been shattered by the death.

A neighbor who declined to give her name described the day care owner as “sweet” and “loving,” saying she heard the children playing in her backyard.

“I can tell you this, the kids got good care,” she said.

In a news release in response to questions from the Post-Dispatch, police said detectives were investigating the infant’s “apparent sudden death” at an unlicensed home day care business. That investigation is ongoing, they said, and they have been in contact with prosecutors.