Babysitter charged in connection with Pittsburgh girl's drowning

Authorities have arrested a 25-year-old woman in connection with the death of a Pittsburgh girl who drowned in a Baldwin swimming pool last summer.

Allegheny County homicide detectives say Bhima Acharya was babysitting 7-year-old Jessica Basnet in July when the girl got into a neighbor’s pool.

On July 19, Baldwin Borough police were called to Elmwood Drive for a report of a 7-year-old girl found not breathing in a neighbor’s swimming pool. An off-duty Upper St. Clair police officer had been in the area and heard two women screaming for help and saw one of them carrying Jessica. The officer placed Jessica, who was unresponsive, on the ground and began CPR. Baldwin police and paramedics arrived on scene and took Jessica to Jefferson Hospital, where she died.

Detectives said the homeowners of the swimming pool were on vacation and did not permit anyone to use the pool. The ladder to the above ground pool had been up prior to Jessica’s entering the pool, detectives learned. After she was found in the pool, the ladder was down.

The Loman family, the owners of the pool, told the Tribune-Review after it happened that they were on vacation in Florida when they got a call from a neighbor informing them of the tragic news.

Neighbors told the family that their next-door neighbors on Elmwood Drive threw a party that extended into the Lomans’ backyard. A group of partygoers of all ages went in the pool, including the girl, who was wearing a bathing suit.

The neighbors had never gone in to the Lomans’ pool before but had used their trampoline and swingset without permission, Mandell Loman said. The two families were not friends.

Acharya has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the welfare of children.