A 29-year-old woman from Indiana has been arrested after a bizarre incident where she boarded a city bus carrying a rolling suitcase with a 2-year-old child zipped inside. The woman, identified as Ashley N. Gibson, claimed she did this to “keep him warm.”
The incident happened on December 12, 2024, in Bloomington, Indiana. According to reports, Gibson got on a Bloomington Transit bus carrying the suitcase. It wasn’t long before the bus driver realized there was a child inside. Alarmed, the driver stopped the bus near West 3rd Street and called 911.
Police arrived quickly, and after reviewing the bus’s surveillance footage, they discovered that the child had been zipped inside the suitcase for at least 18 minutes. Gibson had boarded the bus around 1:43 p.m. and sat near the front, with the suitcase nearby.
When officers questioned her, Gibson admitted the child was 2 years old. She said she had put him in the suitcase to keep him warm. However, the officers found her explanation strange because the toddler was already dressed warmly in a puffy winter jacket and long pants. The weather that day wasn’t freezing either—it had a high of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit.
When asked why she thought it was okay to zip the child into a suitcase, Gibson reportedly claimed that her family caseworker had told her it was fine. This statement only raised more concerns for the authorities.
According to the police, Gibson’s actions put the child’s life and health at risk. They recommended charges of felony child neglect and misdemeanor criminal recklessness. Gibson was arrested and taken to the Monroe County Jail.
She appeared in court on Tuesday, where she entered a plea of not guilty. She was represented by a public defender, and the judge allowed her to be released on her own recognizance, as long as she followed certain conditions set by the state’s Department of Child Services.
Gibson is scheduled to appear in Monroe County Circuit Court for a pretrial conference on March 9, with a jury trial set to begin on April 23. If convicted, she could face up to two and a half years in prison.
