A Schenectady County woman is accused of killing her 24-year-old daughter by failing to provide insulin and proper care.

The woman, Skylar Pettit, was left for several months in the home after she died. She was found last July.

Amber Geier has been charged with manslaughter, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney announced at a news conference on Thursday.

Pettit was found by Rotterdam Police in the home at 1726 Greenpoint Ave. on July 31, 2023, after having been dead for several months. She was wrapped in plastic and kept on her bed.

Police had gone to do a welfare check at the request of someone from Mohonasen Central School, where Pettit graduated, who had not heard from her in some time. 

Pettit had Down syndrome and was an insulin-dependent diabetic who was solely reliable on her mom for her care.

Carney said Geier went into Pettit’s room one morning in April and found that she had died overnight.

Carney said the investigation determined that Geier, who is a licensed practical nurse, last filled a prescription for insulin in February 2022 and prosecutors believe Geier stopped taking care of Pettit by the summer of 2022.

“It seems that at some point she just gave up,” he said.
By February of the following year, her health had deteriorated.

“She was bedridden and wasting away. Her body was unable to process carbohydrates and instead was breaking down any muscle and fat tissue she had,” Carney said.

Pettit also had a skin condition and cardiac arrhythmia.

An autopsy at the time said her death was due to natural causes. Carney said the investigation was complicated by the length of time that Pettit and the state of decomposition of her remains. 

It also became a financial investigation as Geier allegedly continued to collect Social Security benefits for Pettit. Carney believed the total is around $5,000.

Geier’s boyfriend, Rickey Loika, is charged with hindering prosecution.

Both Geier and Loika are charged with concealment of a human course and endangering the welfare of an incompetent person.

Both defendants are also facing four misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty for leaving four Mastiff puppies in filthy and inhumane conditions.

Carney noted that this is the third case involving parents accused of causing the death of their children. Persia Nelson is accused of dropping her baby down a drainage access pipe at the General Electric campus and Robert Buskey is accused of allowing his 5-year-old to die of starvation from lack of water.

Carney said prosecutors decided not to bring forward a charge of second-degree murder because that would have required proof that Geier showed indifference to human life.

“She continued to take care of her to some degree – not enough to keep her alive. It didn’t show utter indifference. We felt that that theory of the crime would have been a stretch,” he said.

Carney said Geier should have gotten help.

“She could have gone to Adult Protective Services and said ‘I just can’t take care of her anymore,’” he said.

Geier was arraigned in Schenectady County Court on Thursday morning and sent to Schenectady County Jail. Bail has been set at $150,000 cash, $300,000 bond or $1.5 million partially secured bond. 

Loika was released to the supervision of the probation.