YELL COUNTY (KFSM) - A woman whose 10-month-old baby and husband were found dead last week in the Ouachita Mountains was charged with manslaughter Tuesday after new details emerged about the deaths of her family members.
Brooke Floyd, 21, surrendered herself to authorities Tuesday and was released from jail on the $50,000 bond she previously posted. She was also arrested last week on suspicion of hindering apprehension and endangering a minor.
New court documents released Tuesday state Brian and Brooke Floyd went missing July 25 after taking methamphetamine and fleeing with their 10-month-old son Harper to the Ouachita Mountains, where they thought someone was following them. The couple's truck broke down near Blue Mountain Lake, and the two believed they were being attacked by unknown assailants.
Brooke Floyd later conceded the attacks may have been fake, and the couple may have actually been attacking each other, according to court documents.
The woman left her husband and son in the woods to go find help. She was later found by U.S. Forest Service workers, court documents state.
Floyd, of Greenwood, was arrested shortly after authorities found her. They began searching for her then-missing husband and son and found them both dead in a rural area of Yell County on July 29, not far from Brian's Chevy pickup truck near Blue Mountain Lake, authorities said.
An autopsy report states Harper Floyd died from abandonment and exposure, while Brian Floyd's cause of death is undetermined pending a toxicology report, according to court documents.
On July 25 at 2:08 p.m., deputies with the Yell County Sheriff's Department went to the Booneville Police Department regarding Brooke Floyd being found in a ditch in the Ouachita National Forest by a forest service employee, court documents state.
Brooke Floyd was covered in scratches from traveling in heavy brush for an extended period of time, according to court documents.
She also had "significant" bruising on her arms, legs and sides of her face. She was barefoot when she was found, court documents state.
Brooke Floyd told authorities that she and Brian Floyd left their house around 1 a.m. that morning with their 10-month-old son Harper after they became afraid of people around their home trying to harm them, according to court documents.
She said that after they left Greenwood, they were being followed by people who were trying to kill them and that those people were following them in different vehicles, court documents state.
Brooke Floyd told deputies that a red truck and white car were chasing her family. They went by Brooke Floyd's parent's home, but they decided to keep driving for fear of the people chasing them hurting Brooke Floyd's parents as well.
They kept going, and they ended up in a wooded area, but she could not describe where it was. Brooke Floyd was rambling and incoherent, and she was very difficult to follow in conversation, according to court documents.
Brooke Floyd said they drove up a dead-end road, and Brian Floyd told her that the truck broke down at the end of it. She said that when they got out of the vehicle, they were attacked by the people who had been chasing them, court documents state.
She said that attackers shot at them and that Brian shot back before he got hit. Brooke Floyd told deputies the attackers shot the entire family, and at one point, she feared Harper would die because he stopped breathing. Later she said he started breathing again. Then, she said people stabbed them with knives but later mentioned there weren't any knives and nobody was stabbed, according to court documents.
Brooke Floyd eventually decided to go for help. She told deputies she went instead of Brian because he was having trouble walking. She also said she didn't take the baby because Harper was okay with Brian Floyd, court documents state.
The court documents state, "She did not show any emotion and did not appear to be frantic or even openly concerned about the baby's well-being."
When asked where her husband was, she indicated he was at the police station with her. Deputies informed her that he was not, and she said she thought he got picked up, too, according to court documents.
Deputies asked her if she had taken any medication because she appeared to be hallucinating, and she said she had taken Clonazepam and "Speed." Deputies asked if "Speed" referred to Methamphetamine, and she said yes. She told deputies that she snorted meth a day before everything happened. She also said Brian Floyd had snorted it, too. Brian Floyd had been awake for three days prior to the incident, court documents state.
She couldn't provide specific details about the exact location of Brian Floyd and Harper, but she said she had been walking through the woods for a while, according to court documents.
Harper Floyd was only wearing a diaper when she left him with Brian Floyd, court documents state.
Search teams formed after Brooke Floyd was taken back to Danville to be further questioned, according to court documents.
On July 28, after search efforts still hadn't yielded any results, authorities spoke with Brooke Floyd again who admitted she and Brian were under the effects of meth, and she knew most of what she said was false. She said Brian Floyd was hallucinating too, and they would tell each other what they were both seeing, leading them to believe their experiences were real, court documents state.
She told authorities that before she left Brian Floyd and Harper Floyd, she spent a night with them. During the night, they continued to hallucinate, and at one point when they thought they were being attacked, they were really just fighting each other, according to court documents.
During the fight, Brian Floyd told her he was going to "put Harper out of his misery," because he was "breathing weird." She managed to talk her husband out of it, but the next morning, the baby was covered in scratches from their fight during the previous night, court documents state.
Brian Floyd's truck was later found that day, according to court documents.
On July 29, the body of Harper Floyd was found lying face-down near a forest service road. Brian Floyd was found lying on his back in a wooded area approximately 0.13 miles away from where Harper Floyd was found, court documents state.
Brooke Floyd has a court date scheduled for 9 a.m. on Aug. 7 at the Yell County Circuit Court in Danville. Until then, she remains free on bond, according to a news release from Yell County Sheriff Bill Gilkey.
To read the full arrest warrant, click here. Be warned, there are some graphic details.