An Indiana woman who neglected her 20-month-old daughter until she died, all while denigrating her with odd and harsh remarks, will spend the next many decades in prison.
In February, jurors in Lawrence County convicted Cheyenne Hill, 34, of one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
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Earlier this week, Judge John Plummer III sentenced the defendant to 30 years in prison for Elliaunna Plummer’s death in late 2022.
“This is a sad case, very said,” the judge stated during a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, according to a courtroom report by Bedford-based radio station WBIW. “This little child needed someone to stand up for her, defend her, and keep her safe. It was Cheyenne’s obligation to do so, but she did not. This is quite tragic. This was an emotional case that was difficult for everyone. Elliaunna gets some justice today.”
The child underwent evacuation from Indiana University Health Hospital Bedford to Riley Hospital for Children on November 23, 2022. She had a brain bleed, a broken collarbone, and bruises on her face and head. Elliaunna died from her injuries that day.
In August 2023, a heartbreaking and thorough probable cause document detailed the girl’s dying days. Hill was arrested and prosecuted in late September 2023; he pleaded not guilty.
A police officer stated in his report that pictures of the girl before her transport to Indianapolis showed a swollen and deformed head, along with bruising on her forehead and the left and right sides of her face. “Red-brownish marks were observable underneath both eyes.”
The same caseworker who alerted criminal enforcement also stated that two anonymous Department of Child Services alerts regarding Hill had been left in the days preceding the original hospital visit, indicating suspected drug usage and practically certain child abuse.
The second contact came on the day the youngster was taken to the hospital, approximately eight days after the bruises appeared, according to the affidavit.
“The caller reported that [the girl] had three fingerprint marks on one side of her face and one on the other, consistent with what appeared to have been caused by someone grabbing her face and squeezing,” according to the report. “The caller described [the girl’s] state as lethargic, saying she wouldn’t wake up, appeared ‘half dead,’ and couldn’t lift her head. “The caller indicated that [the girl’s] mother left for work, leaving [the kid] with the person she had been staying with, despite [the girl’s] condition.”
During the trial, prosecutors characterized the now-condemned lady as a selfish person who cared more about using marijuana, eating fast food and leftovers, maintaining her partner, and being allowed to live with him than she did about her daughter, according to WBIW.
To that end, jurors heard the defendant make unsubstantiated, scary, and bizarre comments about her toddler.
In an interview with a representative from a donor network the day before her death, Hill described her daughter as “not a nice kid” and stated that she feared her child would have become the next “Jeffrey Dahmer” because “something wasn’t right with her.”
The month before Elliaunna died, Hill texted her lover, Cameron Fleming, saying, “[She] was f—— horrible last night when we came back.” I would not stop crying.” I wanted to throw her.” The following week, she texted Fleming, “Let me get this a—— to bed.”
Some of these remarks were eventually relayed to the police.
On December 7, 2022, an investigating officer questioned Hill about why she went to work the day her daughter was in the hospital and didn’t wake up.
The detective gave the following synopsis of their conversation:
Nonetheless, the prosecution did not pursue the theory that Hill personally murdered her daughter. However, the state claimed, and jurors agreed, that the level of neglect and injury had the same consequence.
“She did it knowingly,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Joshua Scherschel stated in the state’s closing statement.
“We don’t know beyond a reasonable doubt who did the physical act that killed Elli Plummer,” the prosecution said. “Unfortunately, we do know her mother had a responsibility to care for that child, but she put her in danger to the point of death.”
