Fayetteville couple charged in beating of 3-month-old
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008
The Washington County Prosecutor's Office on Friday charged a Fayetteville man and his girlfriend in the beating of a 3-monthold baby girl.
Rodney Lee Crosby, 26, of 2080 Chestnut, No. 11, was charged with three counts of battery and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, accused of slamming the baby into a wall and the floor, shoving the infant's head through a wall, causing multiple fractures, and giving the baby alcohol.
Charged with one count each of endangering the welfare of a minor and permitting child abuse was the baby's mother, Esther Margaret Easter, 25, of the same address, accused of allowing Crosby to repeatedly batter her daughter while taking no action to prevent the abuse, according to the felony information filed in Washington County Circuit Court.
According to the felony information, the child suffered multiple skull and rib fractures, as well as liver damage.
Easter also is accused of giving the child alcohol on several occasions.
The baby is now in foster care, said Mieka Hatcher, deputy prosecutor for the 4 th Judicial District. She had no comment on the baby's condition. She said she does not have all of the medical reports back on the case.
Police responded to the Northwest Medical Center in Springdale on the morning of Feb. 22 to a report of a child with a skull fracture and cranial bleeding.
Fayetteville police on Feb. 23 received a report indicating that a baby was being treated at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. The child was described as having multiple skull and rib fractures, as well as bruises to her throat and other areas.
Crosby was arrested on battery charges. He confessed to slamming the child against a wall "hard enough to crack sheet rock and make a hole the size of a baby," according to the arrest report.
He admitted to covering the hole with a poster of a dragon to conceal the damage. He told police that he had been violent with the child as many as four times in the prior month and admitted giving the baby whiskey and cola to get her to stop crying, according to the arrest report.
Easter was arrested Feb. 25 when officers determined she knew about the abuse but did not report or try to stop it.
Crosby and Easter are each being held in the Washington County Detention Center on $ 100, 000 bond. Their arraignments are Monday.
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