SPOKANE, Wash. — An Idaho mom who prompted an AMBER Alert last week planned to inject her daughter with bleach to kill parasites, according to court documents.
Police said a missing and “possibly endangered” 10-year-old Nampa, Idaho girl was found with her mother in Cheney last week.
Nampa police said the girl and her mother, 41-year-old Brooke Helmandollar, were last seen at a Nampa hotel on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 19 and were believed to be headed toward Portland, Oregon. They were reportedly spotted in Hermiston, Oregon, on Wednesday.
After the alert was issued, a tip called into the Cheney Police Department led officers to Helmandollar and her daughter, police said.
Helmandollar believed she and her daughter were infested with parasites, and planned to have the two of them drink charcoal, receive enemas or colon cleaning, and inject bleach to kill the parasites, according to court documents.
Helmandollar later told officers she was suffering from some health issues, including the parasite infestation, according to court documents. She said that she sought medical help for these issues but felt as though the doctors were not listening to her.
According to court documents, Helmandollar was taken to Sacred Heart for a mental evaluation and her 10-year-old daughter was placed into the care of Washington Child Protective Services.
On March 12, Helmandollar called her daughter’s school and told them she would be picking her up to treat her “parasite problem,” according to court documents. When Helmandollar picked up her daughter, a staff member noticed the car's seats were covered with plastic.
Helmadollar then told the staff member that they were staying in a motel because the house was infected with parasites and insects, according to court documents.
When officers spoke with Helmandollar’s husband John, he denied that their apartment was infested with anything, according to court documents. John Helmandollar said his wife suffers from mental health issues and that he was trying to get her into a rehab facility.
John Helmandollar told officers he believed the combination of prescriptions she was on caused some of her mental health problems, according to court documents. Officers also found that Brooke Helmandollar tested positive for methamphetamine in November 2018 and was a known marijuana user.
When officers from the Nampa Police Department found the hotel where Helmandollar and her daughter were staying, they found the items she planned to use to get rid of the parasites. Helmandollar told officers the bleach would have been used for cleaning the area rather than injecting into her daughter, according to court documents.
When officers spoke with John Helmandollar, they realized he was not truthful when asked about the whereabouts of his wife and daughter, according to court documents. He initially claimed that they were still staying in a motel.
Officers determined that John Helmandollar knew his wife’s location and was aware she had left town for Portland, Oregon, according to court documents. They checked John Helmandollar’s phone and found out he had been in constant communication with his wife.
A safety plan would have prohibited Brooke Helmandollar from having or caring for their daughter unsupervised, according to court documents.
According to court documents, John Helmandollar signed the agreement but violated it, saying his wife convinced him it was "not enforceable unless it was from the court."
During the investigation, law enforcement from Idaho used technology to locate Brooke Helmandollar’s phone in or near Hermiston, Oregon, according to court documents. Hellmandollar told Cheney police that they had arrived in Hermiston late at night and slept in the car.
Shortly after the law enforcement officers from Idaho located the phone in Oregon, the phone was turned off and there were no additional signals detected, according to court documents.
Officers spoke with John Hellmandollar several times during the investigation and he did not express concern for his daughter’s safety, according to court documents. When he found out about the AMBERT ALERT, he said, “That’s not going to look good.”
A search warrant was issued for Brooke Hellmandollar’s cellphone – which remains at Sacred Heart Medical Center – and all text messages, call logs, Snapchat logs and Facebook messages from March 12-20.
Brooke Hellmandollar is charged with second degree criminal mistreatment of a child.