Dad arrested after keeping 7-month-old in hotel room with dead mom, drugs: court docs

SHARONVILLE, Ohio (WXIX) - A dad is under arrest and accused of keeping his 7-month-old baby girl in the same hotel room with her dead mother’s body and never reporting it, court records show.

Troy Mahaffey, 32, of College Hill is held at the Hamilton County jail on charges of child endangering and failure to report a death.

Police found his girlfriend, 34-year-old Geri Mays, unresponsive on a bed when they conducted a well-check on her on Aug. 2 at Days Inn & Suites on Lebanon Road, according to a police incident report.

When officers first arrived, Mahaffey opened the door just enough to see out at first and looked surprised to see them. They asked to speak with Mays and Mahaffey told them “that’s what we just called for,” according to the incident report.

Mays was unresponsive on one of the two beds in the room, but he told police “she was passed out and then audibly laughed while saying it,” the report states.

She died from a suspected drug overdose, court records show.

The baby who is almost 8 months old, was found wearing a soiled onesie for a 3-month-old, according to an affidavit.

“She smelled of cigarette and marijuana smoke,” police wrote in the sworn statement.

“The formula inside her bottle was curdled and she had an untreated diaper rash. (The baby’s) hair was matted and unkept as if she had not been bathed in quite some time. She was reluctant to straighten her legs as if she had been kept in a car seat for exorbitant periods of time. (The baby) never attempted to crawl or roll over when on the floor, which is inconsistent with age.”

The infant was shared by Mahaffey and Mays, Sharonville police say.

First responders ultimately determined Mays was dead with “full rigor mortis with lividity present” indicating she passed away several hours before police arrived.

Still, Mahaffey claimed he found her only an hour or two before police arrived and “waited like 10 minutes” before trying to get help, according to the report. He also said he tried to put her in the tub “to try to bring her back and figure out what was wrong with her.”

He told police “she has cancer and that she was passed out and cold and blue,” the report states.

In addition, he told police he did not have a car and claimed to have called “like twenty people despite earlier stating that his phone was dead,” the report reads.

Police determined Mahaffey gave evasive and “inconsistent” statements, the report continues.

He also “never explicitly stated that he called the police or ambulance” but did tell them “he had called like twenty people despite earlier stating that his phone was dead,” the report reads.

Officers told detectives Mahaffey “was a suspected drug dealer and had been selling drugs, specifically crack cocaine” to a man and woman who were in the hotel room with him, Mays and their daughter, according to the report.

It goes on to say that “All parties had smoked crack cocaine last night, except for Troy who smoked marijuana (with the child present). Everyone spent the night in Room 153.”

The hotel room was cluttered with several bags of clothes, baby items, hygiene and household products, the report reads.

Besides Mahaffey, Mays and their daughter, another man and woman also were present in the hotel room.

Police questioned them as well.

When a sergeant asked who they were, “They stated they were just there to help because they were supposed to move today,” according to the police report.

The woman told officers they met Mahaffey and Mays “maybe two weeks ago” but that she went to school with Troy.

The couple privately talked with police at length and also told them, according to the report:

They arrived at the hotel the night before “and smoked crack and so did Mays.”
Mays had been up and awake at 5 a.m. that morning.
The man heard Mays and Mahaffey arguing and Mays complained her chest hurt. He asked her if she needed an ambulance, which she refused.
Mahaffey woke them up about 15 minutes before police arrived
They didn’t know she was dead but knew something was wrong because of the way Mahaffey was acting.
Neither of them made the request for the well-check but it may have come from someone in a nearby room because they were talking “very loudy.”
The man told police “he had a hit of his crack pipe” about 5:30 a.m. that morning and alleged Mahaffey told him to put Mays’ pipe in his bag and remove it from the table.

At that point, Sharonville police made plans to transport Mahaffey to the police department for further investigation.

Police say an anonymous caller wanted them to check on the infant.

The baby was checked out by paramedics, taken to the police department and eventually released into the custody of child caseworkers at the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, police records show.

Police determined the man and woman in the room with Mahaffey were wanted on capias warrants related to court orders or judgments.

The Hamilton County Heroin Task Force and Hamilton County Coroner’s Office responded to the hotel room.

Police turned the scene and investigation over to the heroin task force.

A task force investigator found loose white powder in the dresser drawer of the television stand, according to the police report.

A piece of folded paper containing white powder suspected to be heroin was found in the bathroom on the sink.

Additional narcotics and drug paraphernalia was found including a white plastic baggie of white powder (more suspected heroin) along with Xanax pills.

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