Mom Who Let Daughter Die of Asthma Attack, Trying ‘Home Remedies’ Instead of Going to Hospital, Learns Fate
A Minnesota mother has been sentenced to three years in prison after neglecting to take her 9-year-old daughter to the hospital for several hours during an asthma attack last year, resulting in the girl’s death days later.
Rachel Lynn Modrow was sentenced this week to 41 months in prison, according to Hennepin County court documents reviewed by PEOPLE. The 35-year-old mother and her husband Anthony Modrow were both charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection with their daughter’s death.
Anthony has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set to begin Jan. 27, according to CBS News.
Rachel has been held in custody at the Hennepin County Jail since Monday, according to records reviewed by PEOPLE, after previously posting bond last year when she was first charged in connection with her daughter’s February 2024 death.
The couple’s 9-year-old daughter began having an asthma attack while at a friends’ house for a sleepover, according to an April 2024 warrant reviewed by PEOPLE. The friend’s mother noticed she was using an inhaler with her grandmother’s name on it, according to the document, which the 9-year-old then explained was because her inhaler was empty and her parents did not have a car to take her to go get a new one.
The friend’s mother then called Anthony to explain the medical emergency and ask if he would like the friend’s mother to take his daughter to the hospital, according to the warrant. Documents allege the father then “proceeded to sigh” on the phone and refused the offer, instead asking the woman to bring his daughter home, where he later allegedly appeared flippant about the emergency.
The girl could “barely walk” when the woman dropped her off at the Modrows’ home, and Anthony appeared to make “no attempt to assist” his daughter into the house as she struggled to breathe, the warrant alleges.
The father later told police his daughter reported her inhaler had gone empty a month prior to the deadly asthma attack, but the parents “never got it refilled,” according to the warrant.
The 9-year-old “was experiencing wheezing, not able to breathe, was crying, upset, and not feeling well,” the father said, so he and Modrow decided to try “home remedies, such as a steam bath, with no effect,” the warrant alleges.
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The parents eventually took their daughter to the hospital more than three hours later, according to the warrant, where she was later pronounced “brain dead” and died “due to a loss of oxygen to her brain related to the asthma attack.”
“Multiple doctors were consulted, including a Pediatric Critical Care doctor, who stated that Victim would have had a much better chance to survive with earlier medical intervention and explained how important early medical intervention is for asthma,” the warrant said. “The doctor noted that a steam bath is not a recognized treatment for asthma.”
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