Mom told Wichita police she and dad were drunk for ‘about a week’ before baby son died

The mother of a 2-month-old baby who died next to his sleeping father in a west Wichita hotel room on Aug. 30 told police that she and her son’s father had “been drunk for about a week” before the death and that the couple is intoxicated “all of the time.”

Lab investigators who searched the room that Christy Rollings, 39, and Kyle Kempton, 34, were staying in with their infant twins found several empty vodka bottles, an empty Fireball Whiskey bottle and papers for Alcoholics Anonymous, according to an arrest affidavit released Tuesday by Sedgwick County District Court.

They also found baby bottles with mold and curdled milk in them.

The family had been living in a room at the Scotsman Inn, 5299 W. Kellogg Drive, for about a week before 2-month-old Patrick Kempton was found unresponsive in bed, snuggled up against his father’s chest. Kyle Kempton was sleeping next to the baby when Rollings woke up early on Aug. 30 and discovered that the boy wasn’t breathing.

Both are charged with involuntary manslaughter in the boy’s death and four counts of child endangerment.

Rollings told police in an interview after Patrick died that she and Kempton had spent the day before, Aug. 29, drinking alcohol instead of sobering up like they were supposed to so they could get their babies back. Police took the twins to Rollings’ mother on Aug. 28 after officers went to check on their welfare at the hotel and found Rollings and Kempton both intoxicated.

During the welfare check, Kempton told officers that he “may have had too much to drink.” The officers noted that he smelled strongly of alcohol, was unsteady and that his eyes were bloodshot.

Rollings was also drunk, wobbled when she walked, “held the door so she would not fall over” and couldn’t smoke without dropping her cigarette. At one point, she asked one of the officers “if she could just take one more shot” before she went to get the boys’ car seats. The officer told her no.

The hotel room “was a mess” with clothes, garbage, “old food boxes” and empty alcohol bottles scattered around. A large vodka bottle that was nearly empty was by the bed, the affidavit says.

Rollings’ mother agreed to take the babies “while Kyle and Christy sobered up” after police called and asked her “about taking the children for the night,” the affidavit says. She told them Rollings and Kempton met in alcohol rehabilitation and that “Kyle is frequently drunk and Christy has struggled with alcohol addiction for a long time.”

The twins were never taken into police protective custody.

Rollings later told police the only thing she remembered about the welfare check is that she and Kempton “were playing Uno and the cops came and took the kids to her mom.”

The next morning at about 10:30 a.m., Rollings took an Uber car to pick up the babies at her mother’s home then returned to the hotel. She and Kempton took another Uber car around noon to go get food from McDonald’s and vodka, then spent the day drinking in the hotel “and were constantly drunk,” the affidavit says.

Rollings told police she didn’t remember what time she went to sleep but that Kempton went to bed before her. He took Patrick to bed with him, cradling the baby under his right armpit while he laid on his back. Rollings slept on the floor with the other twin.

The next morning, Rollings woke up, checked on Kempton and Patrick, and found Patrick lying next to Kempton not moving and not breathing. When she turned the baby over, she saw blood.

She told police that she woke Kempton up and he tried to perform CPR on the boy.

Rollings told police that she heard Kempton say “I must’ve rolled over on him” and that “they told us not to sleep with the baby.”

After trying to perform CPR for 20 minutes, Kempton called 911, the affidavit says.

This story was originally published September 18, 2018 at 6:55 PM.