A Kirkland mother was charged with manslaughter this month after King County prosecutors accused her of letting her diabetic daughter slowly die in the back seat during a family road trip.
Concerns about the mother’s alleged management of the 10-year-old’s Type 1 diabetes had been reported to Washington state’s child welfare agency at least four times before the death.
Lloydina McAllister, 42, pleaded not guilty Nov. 13 in King County Superior Court to a charge of first-degree manslaughter constituting domestic violence, about four months after she brought her deceased daughter to a Tacoma hospital, court records show.
King County prosecutors said McAllister noticed warning signs on July 16 that her daughter was going into diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes, but didn’t call 911 or take the girl to a hospital until more than two days later, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in King County Superior Court.
Instead, prosecutors said McAllister embarked on a road trip from Kirkland to Northern California with her boyfriend and three children as her daughter’s condition progressively worsened. The family eventually turned around and traveled more than 700 miles north, passing by 31 hospitals, before McAllister brought her daughter to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital on July 18, court records show.
The girl, identified in court records by her initials, had been dead for several hours in the back seat of the car next to her 12-year-old sister and 1-year-old brother by the time they arrived, according to the affidavit.
McAllister's attorneys did not respond Wednesday to phone or email inquiries.
In interviews with Kirkland police, McAllister reportedly said she didn’t immediately seek medical attention for her 10-year-old because she wasn’t allowed to take the girl out of state under a parenting agreement with the girl’s father, and she worried he would find out about the trip. McAllister also told investigators it was her daughter’s responsibility to bring her own medical supplies, but that the child had forgotten them at home, court records show.
The girl’s death brought an end to years of alleged mismanagement of her diabetes, which had been reported to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families four times since the girl’s diagnosis in February 2018.
Medical staff at Mary Bridge hospital and EvergreenHealth Medical Center contacted the agency three times between 2019 and 2021 to report concerns about McAllister’s daughter, including that the girl’s consistently high blood sugar levels put her at imminent risk. Records showed the girl had been hospitalized four times for diabetic ketoacidosis before her death, as recently as May 18, according to the affidavit.
An employee at the child’s school also contacted DCYF in 2021 when McAllister’s daughter arrived at school with dangerously high blood sugar levels that required contacting a medical provider. According to the employee’s report, McAllister’s daughter said she wasn’t supposed to tell anyone what she ate for breakfast because it could result in her being taken away from her mother, court records show.
DCYF spokesperson Nancy Gutierrez said the agency had no open cases involving McAllister’s daughter in the year before her death. She said she could not provide more information about past reports due to confidentiality requirements.
After a social worker at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital reported the girl’s death to the child welfare agency, a DCYF investigator contacted the Kirkland Police Department and provided records about McAllister’s daughter on July 24, according to the affidavit.
“When it was referred to us, we prepped and sent everything to our law enforcement partners,” Gutierrez said Monday. “We did the part that we have to do as part of our protocol.”
Medical professionals had trained McAllister extensively on how to use the girl’s insulin pump and on the life-threatening risks of long bouts of elevated blood sugar, court records show.
Despite this training, prosecutors said McAllister failed to seek medical attention for her daughter after noticing the girl’s insulin pump register high blood sugar levels and that she started vomiting shortly before the road trip — both of which she knew were signs of diabetic ketoacidosis.
McAllister’s boyfriend told investigators the girl continued vomiting during the drive. The girl's 12-year-old sister also told investigators her sister had been sick all week before the trip and started vomiting several days before she died. At some point on the drive north, the 12-year-old said her sister fell asleep and would not wake up.
A search by Kirkland police of McAllister's cellphone records showed she had done internet searches for ways to quickly lower blood sugar in the hours before her daughter’s death. About a week later, McAllister performed additional searches about whether police investigate “sudden death from diabetes” and whether she would need a lawyer, according to the affidavit.
Kirkland police arrested McAllister on Nov. 4.
In a statement shared Friday on the city’s website, Kirkland police Chief Mike St. Jean called their investigation into the 10-year-old’s death “complex and emotionally challenging.”
“We remain committed to protecting our community’s most vulnerable residents, especially children who cannot advocate for themselves,” he said.
King County Superior Court Judge Tanya Thorp on Nov. 13 ordered McAllister be held in King County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail and to not contact her two surviving children, unless it’s a supervised visit where they don’t discuss the case or the deceased.
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