A Washington mother is facing charges after her daughter died from complications related to her diabetes. Lloydina McAllister, was arrested after a detailed investigation into her daughter’s death over the summer. As the investigation revealed, McAllister delayed getting her daughter life-saving treatment but waited for a questionable reason. Now, the woman has lost custody of her other children and is looking at jail time.
On November 4, 2025, the 42-year-old was arrested on suspicions of manslaughter, Kirkland police shared in a news release. An “extensive investigation” began after Child Protective Services referred the case to police. Alarms were sounded when McAllister brought her 10-year-old daughter to a Tacoma hospital already dead.
Based on information given to investigators, the girl, who had Type-1 diabetes, died from prolonged diabetic ketoacidosis. Despite knowing that her daughter’s health was failing, the mother did nothing about it. Her inaction is what led to her arrest and charges.
“This was a complex and emotionally challenging investigation,” Police Chief Mike St. Jean shared in the news release. “The collaboration between our detectives, medical professionals, and prosecutors was essential in bringing clarity to what happened. We remain committed to protecting our community’s most vulnerable residents, especially children who cannot advocate for themselves.”
In the charging document, prosecutors allege McAllister “failed to provide life-saving care for her child, despite substantial education and training on the life-threatening risks of prolonged periods of high blood sugar when a child has Type 1 Diabetes,” ABC News reported.
On July 17, McAllister and her boyfriend took her three children on a road trip to the Oregon-California border. The day before the trip, the girl’s insulin pump began showing “high” blood glucose levels. According to the document, the girl started throwing up, which is a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis.
The family made it all the way to Northern California before turning back and making a nine-hour trip to Tacoma to bring the girl, who has not been named, to the hospital.
On the morning of July 18, McAllister texted her mother, who is on staff at Tacoma’s Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, “I’m bring [the girl] in she is DKA we was on way to California but she was taking her pump out,” documents read, per ABC News. By the time they arrived at the hospital, the girl had already died.
“Rigor mortis had set in, and her body was stiff, indicating [the girl] had been dead for several hours in the back seat of the car, alongside her older sister and younger brother,” the charging document stated, per ABC News.
Since the girl’s diabetes diagnosis in 2018, she had been repeatedly hospitalized for diabetic ketoacidosis. She was most recently hospitalized in May 2025, and during that trip, McAllister received retraining on how to administer her daughter’s insulin pump and monitor diabetic ketoacidosis “given the concerns about the defendant’s prior mismanagement of the victim’s condition.”
Over the course of their road trip, McAllister passed 31 open hospitals, KING reported, but she didn’t stop at any of them. Cellphone records show she didn’t attempt to call 911, either. She told investigators that she didn’t stop for help because a co-parenting plan with the girl’s father barred her from crossing state lines.
McAllister has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, and she is in custody at the King County Correctional Facility on a $1 million bond, KING reported. She has been given a no-contact order for her other two children because of concerns for their safety and possible interference with the investigation.
Thus far, the medical examiner has not released a formal cause of death for the girl. The investigation is ongoing.
