The tragic death of baby Taliah: Mother wants answers following 5-month-old’s sudden death

A mother is searching for answers after her 5-month-old died five days after she was found unresponsive after playing with a sibling.

Taliah Keogh died at her Timaru home on August 12, after being admitted to hospital twice in the previous five days. A pathologist’s preliminary report has indicated she died from natural causes.

Her mother, Rochelle Carey, spoke to the Herald about her daughter’s tragic death and says she wants more answers.

Carey said she called emergency services on the morning of August 7 because Taliah had a temperature and was “not her normal self”.

An ambulance arrived and checked Taliah. She said they believed she was okay.

Five-month-old Taliah Keogh died at her home in Timaru on August 12.

About two hours later Carey found Taliah blue and unresponsive while playing with a sibling.

Carey called emergency services again, and this time they took her to Timaru Hospital.

“She was a bit lethargic, a bit confused,” Carey said.

Her discharge notice, seen by the Herald, says she was seen shortly after arrival and was back to herself, appeared well, had no obvious injuries, and could be sent home.

The following day Carey called emergency services again because Taliah was pale and “floppy”.

“This was just after a full night’s sleep, without waking for her normal 2.30am feed.”

Rochelle Carey and her daughter Taliah Keogh aged 5 months.

Taliah was taken to Timaru Hospital for a second time where she stayed overnight. Medical notes say no injuries were identified. She “gradually improved” and by the next morning was bright, smiley and feeding well.

Her blood results were “unremarkable”, and a CT head scan, skeletal X-ray, and eye exam all came back normal. She was discharged from the hospital on the evening of August 9.

Carey continued to monitor Taliah, taking videos of her she intended to show a GP once she got an appointment for the following Monday.

Carey said the videos, seen by the Herald, show Taliah’s eyes rolling and appearing “confused”. Her breathing was also abnormal, she said.

“Normally when she woke she was happy, bubbly, and always making cute noises.”

Carey’s last interaction with Taliah was about 2.30am on August 12 when she woke her for a feed.

Taliah was a 'really happy, bubbly girl', her mother says.

“I was interacting with her fine and then she’d fallen asleep so I placed her into her bassinet.

“Unfortunately that day she slept and I kind of didn’t think anything of it. I didn’t realise the time because I wasn’t on and off my phone, I was quite tired myself - I dozed off a couple of times because I tried staying awake monitoring her, making sure she was okay. I must’ve dozed off again and when I woke up I dealt with one of my children.”

Carey lay down again and fell asleep. When she woke up, shortly before 1pm, she realised Taliah wasn’t breathing.

“I rang the ambulance and I said to them, ‘I think my daughter has passed away in her sleep’.”

The call-taker said she needed to get Taliah out of the bassinet and try to perform CPR.

“I placed her on my floor, attempted to do CPR. It’s a bit hard to do on your own baby, so I was struggling.”

Shortly afterward a paramedic arrived and took over, using a defibrillator on Taliah and continuing CPR. One of Carey’s friends arrived and comforted her while emergency services attended to Taliah.

“We watched them try to revive her for 45 minutes. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to see and watch and then when they called it, it broke me.”

Carey said she was allowed five minutes with Taliah after she was pronounced dead and was only allowed to hold her hand and kiss her before she had to leave the bedroom and go outside. She was then interviewed by police.

Following her death, Taliah was embalmed and taken back to her home for a couple of days for family and friends to say their final goodbyes.

On August 15, Carey was sent a letter from the Coroner’s office. The letter said as part of the Coroner’s initial investigation a post-mortem examination was carried out by a pathologist. The complexity of a post-mortem examination varied, and it could take three months, or longer, for the pathologist’s final post-mortem report to become available.

The pathologist had provided a preliminary indicative report that Taliah’s death was a “natural cause death”.

“Based on this, it is likely that the Coroner will not open an inquiry because there does not appear to be any need for investigation. She will make that decision when the pathologist’s final report is received.”

Carey said she was “confused” and could not understand how her daughter’s death could be classed as natural causes. She was now waiting for the pathologist’s final report in the hope it would provide further answers.

She said she wished she could’ve done more to help Taliah.

“I just don’t know what I could’ve done.”

She described Taliah, the youngest of her six children, as “a complete blessing”.

“She was easy, I had a perfect bond with her. She was amazing, she barely ever cried ... she was a perfect sleeper.

“She was a really happy, bubbly girl. She was always smiley.”

The weeks since Taliah’s death had been “really hard”, and Carey was struggling to sleep at night.

A Givealittle page has been created for the family.

Police earlier said Taliah’s death was being treated as “unexplained”.

On Thursday, a police spokeswoman said the file was being sent to the Coroner and would become a Coronial case.

Te Whatu Ora Chief Medical Officer for South Canterbury Ben Pearson said: “Our thoughts are with the whānau during this difficult time. As the case is before the Coroner, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.”

Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.