NAMPA, Idaho — In a lengthy response to a series of questions from Idaho News 6, the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare (IDHW) is defending its actions regarding the infant death case that landed parents Brian Lemke and Allysen Armenta in Canyon County Jail in December.
Armenta and Lemke are both charged with failure to notify or delay notification of death, injury to a child, destruction or concealment of evidence, and resisting or obstructing officers in connection with their child's death, which happened only 12 days after birth. Bond is set at $500,000 for each parent.
Watch: The timeline to the case and state agencies response
Although an official cause of death has not been listed for the infant, named Benjamin, initial information in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Idaho News 6 shows that his death was likely due to suffocation.
A former foster parent who has since adopted some of the couple's previous children says she urged IDHW and Nampa Police to check on the newborn, but said those calls to action were not taken seriously enough.
In their statement to Idaho News 6, IDHW indicates that they did all they could under the law and cited a lack of a confirmed location for the parents and child as the primary reason they did not intervene.
In their statement, a spokesperson for IDHW concedes that they did receive a call with "concerns" from a member of the public regarding the newly born infant on Dec. 6. They say that on that day, Health & Welfare personnel issued a Priority 3 call, which means that a child may be in a "vulnerable situation" that could result in the child being harmed. The Priority 3 call mandates that "a family services worker must respond within three calendar days, and the child will be seen by the worker within five calendar days of DHW's receipt of the referral."
Three days later, IDHW opened a safety case and attempted to contact Lemke and Armenta. They also informed the Boise Police Department to assist in their search.
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It's unclear why IDHW didn't call other law enforcement agencies in the area at the time, including the Nampa Police Department.
IDHW also contacted the hospital where the child was born. IDHW claims that the hospital staff were "surprised about the call from [IDHW]" and "did not have concerns about the newborn or the parents."
In the following days, IDHW says that law enforcement searched the parents' last known addresses but could not locate them or the infant.
On Dec. 14, IDHW requested that Nampa Police do a welfare check on the child, but again, their whereabouts were still unknown, and police failed to locate the family.
RELATED | Court documents reveal new details in Nampa infant death, 5 children previously removed
On Dec. 15, IDHW said they received a call from Brian Lemke, who told staff that they'd run out of propane and subsequently posted on Facebook asking the public for help in obtaining propane to heat their residence. During that call, Lemke told IDHW staff that the family was doing well and that they'd recently relocated to a friend's home since their trailer camper lacked heating. He also referenced past neglect and said they were hoping to do right by their new child. He later agreed to speak with the friend at whose residence they were residing to see if it would be okay if IDHW visited the home to check on the baby. Lemke then asked IDHW staff to wait while he spoke to the friend. Lemke is said to have promised IDHW that he'd call them back later in the afternoon. IDHW says Lemke would not share his specific location but did share that the family was in Nampa at the time.
Court documents obtained by Idaho News 6 reveal that police were dispatched to a property near Lone Star Road early Dec. 16 after Lemke made a 911 call reporting an unresponsive infant. Officers found the baby not breathing, and investigators said the infant appeared to have been moved after death, with no CPR performed before first responders arrived.
Armenta was found hiding inside a camp trailer on the property roughly an hour after officers arrived.
When asked by Idaho News 6 if there are any improvements to be made that could help address issues like these, IDHW responded by saying: "Idaho’s Child Welfare System includes a range of services designed to protect children and serve families—and in particular to protect children from abuse and neglect. An unfortunate reality is that, for a variety of reasons, some children are not raised in safe homes." They also say, "When a child dies, the department takes that outcome seriously and looks closely at whether improvements can be made—whether in policy, practice, staffing, or coordination with partners."
IDHW reminds everyone that Idaho law requires that anyone who thinks a child is being abused, neglected, or abandoned (collectively called maltreatment) must report it to their local law enforcement within 24 hours.
During the 2025 state fiscal year, IDHW received 24,652 referral calls regarding children from concerned Idahoans via their 211 intake number.
The criminal case against both parents moves forward with Brian Lemke expected in court January 13th.
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