In an initial hearing Tuesday, a mother pleaded not guilty to a charge of neglect resulting in the death of her toddler. The woman, Cheyenne Hill, was arrested in August following an investigation last year into a one-year-old who died from blunt force trauma to the head.
The following information comes from Lawrence County Detective James Slone’s probable cause affidavit.
There were two anonymous calls to the Department of Child Services prior to the toddler being flown to Riley Children’s Hospital on Nov. 23, 2022.
The first call reported smelling pot and a chemical drug smell, and said Hill was suspected of using meth. The caller also said they saw bruises on the toddler’s face.
The second call reported that the toddler had injuries that could be from abuse, and that when they spoke with Hill, her explanations didn’t match the injuries. The caller said the toddler had fingerprint marks on both sides of her face and appeared “half dead,” barely able to hold her head up.
Hill lived in an apartment with her child and her boyfriend, Cameron Fleming. Fleming does not currently have any court files regarding this case.
The girl’s babysitter reported she had a “goose egg” on her forehead on Nov. 15 that did not go away after three days of babysitting the child. She noticed that the child’s facial bruising worsened and told Hill she needed to take the child to the emergency room. Hill said the child’s head got stuck upside down in the futon and couldn’t get out.
The babysitter noticed that the girl wanted to be close to her and didn’t want to do things by herself. She said the swelling was still there the day before the Nov. 23 incident.
The babysitter’s fiancé said the swelling was so prominent that it affected the girl’s eyes and lips. He told Hill that she should take the kid to the hospital, and Hill told him “under no circumstances are you to call an ambulance or take her in yourself.” Hill told him the girl hit her head, and that’s why her forehead was swollen.
A neighbor also noticed the child’s swollen forehead. Hill and Fleming told her that the injury was from running into the counter. However, they later said she had fallen off the bed and hit her head on the floor.
One of Fleming’s friends said the child had two black eyes and her hair was falling out about a week before the incident.
The morning of Nov. 23, Hill noted her child was pale, lethargic, having trouble breathing and tensing her limbs. Hill flicked water on the girl and she grunted.
Hill smoked pot to calm herself down and left for work.
About a week earlier, Hill told a coworker that she may need to take her child to the emergency room. She said the child was born with a brain tumor and it was bleeding because she fell off the bed and hit her head. Her coworker said she should go take care of her child but Hill continued to work.
Fleming checked on the girl shortly after Hill left for work. He described the same symptoms as Hill did that morning, adding that the girl would only take a breath every 10 to 25 seconds.
Fleming texted her saying the toddler needed to go to the hospital. Hill left work and took her child to IU Health Bedford.
At IU Health, she was diagnosed with brain bleed, a broken collarbone and facial bruising. Photos taken by the hospital showed a deformed head with bruising on her forehead and both sides of her face.
The child was flown to Riley Hospital the same day.
At Riley Hospital, the child was determined to have traumatic and likely fatal injuries. They found no condition that would contribute to the injuries. The nurse practitioner noted the child’s injuries are consistent with medical neglect.
The toddler died three days later. A postmortem exam found the child to be about 10 pounds underweight, had lacerations inside her mouth, a fractured collarbone, and multiple areas of internal scalp bleeding. The doctor concluded the manner of death was homicide with the cause being blunt force head trauma.
There were a few notable instances regarding Hill’s conversations and actions regarding her child.
A neighbor observed Hill tossing donuts on the floor, explaining that her child “free roams” for food.
Hill texted Fleming about a month before the incident which said, “[The child] was fucking terrible last night when we came back. I wouldn’t stop crying. I wanted to throw her.” Another text about a week later believed to be referring to the child said, “let me get this asshole to bed.”
One of Hill’s coworkers recalled that Fleming did not like the girl and that Hill believed he was hurting her.
With a different coworker, Hill said her baby used to be beautiful and now she’s ugly. The next day, she told the same coworker that Fleming wouldn’t mind marrying her if she didn’t have a baby.
In a detective interview, one of Hill’s neighbors said when she came over to Hill’s apartment and saw the child’s bruising, Hill said her kid randomly jumps off things and falls on the floor and bruises herself from pulling at her ears and hair. Hill told the neighbor that one day the child was going to kill somebody.
A report from a donor network representative noted that Hill referred to her child as “not a nice kid,” that she would have been the next “Jeffrey Dahmer” and that “something wasn’t right with her.”
In a police detective interview with Hill, she said she did not take her child to the hospital sooner because she didn’t have a working vehicle. She also felt it was not serious enough to call an ambulance. She went to work even though her toddler was in a critical condition because said she was about to be homeless and had to provide for her child. She said that as a mom she would know if something was wrong with her baby but admits that she failed on her part.
Hill took a polygraph with the police, and results indicated that she lied about not injuring her child’s head and not knowing who did. When questioned about referring to her child as Jeffrey Dahmer, Hill laughed and called her child an asshole.
A three-day jury trial is set to begin March 13, 2024.
