Sikeston parents charged with murder in infant daughter's death

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Authorities say a 17-month-old girl died Monday of blunt force trauma to her stomach -- injuries comparable to what a medical examiner described as "being kicked like a football."

The infant's parents, Tabitha Hail, 25, and Robert Benjamin Ransom, 21, both of Sikeston, were charged Wednesday in connection with the death, accused of causing the child to bleed internally and failing to get her proper medical attention in a timely manner.

Hail and Ransom are charged with second-degree murder and child endangerment. Hail is also charged with child abuse resulting in a death.

Tabitha Hail

Sikeston police responded to the couple's home Monday night after they received a 911 call regarding an unresponsive infant. The child was pronounced dead at Missouri Delta Medical Center. A medical examiner with the hospital noted external and internal bruising in the infant's autopsy, according to a complaint filed with the court by Sikeston detective Andy Caton.

The autopsy showed bruising of the infant's head and a kidney and laceration to the liver, which resulted in one liter of blood in the stomach, according to the court document. Caton said the examiner said a child the infant's age would normally have only 1.5 liters of blood in its body.

Caton also writes in the affidavit that in interviews with police, Hail and Ransom claimed to not know how the child received such injuries. The couple also recalled for police events leading up to finding their daughter not breathing after sleeping in their bedroom. About an hour after Hail's two older daughters returned home from school and then left again for the library, she lay down with Ransom and the child in their bed. Hail told police she thought she woke up when her older daughters came home from the library and Ransom told her the baby wasn't moving or breathing and had vomited on her shirt.

Caton said in his affidavit there were several inconsistencies with stories the couple told earlier in the day, such as when Hail left to go buy cigarettes at a gas station near their home and meet with a friend to borrow cash.

The older daughters were also interviewed, according to the affidavit, and said they both get spankings from their mother, often with a belt or a hanger. Ransom said he never saw Hail hit her daughters.

Both are being held in the Scott County Jail on a $150,000 cash-only bond. The court has not set a date for them to appear before a judge.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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Pertinent Address:

502 E. Gladys St., Sikeston, MO