Wife enters plea of not guilty in daughter’s death
TEXARKANA, Ark. — A husband and wife charged with murder in the death of their infant daughter and accused of endangering the life of her twin brother appeared in court this week in Miller County.
Crystal Morrow, 24, and Dustin Harley, 19, appeared Tuesday before Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson. Harley’s case was rescheduled for May because he is assigned to a different court.
Morrow entered a plea of not guilty with the help of Managing Public Defender Jason Mitchell. Mitchell made an oral motion that Johnson granted to have Morrow’s competency evaluated. Mitchell filed a written motion for a competency evaluation in Harley’s case.
The couple is charged in the Sept. 27 death of their daughter, 7-month-old Kimberly, and with endangering the welfare of a minor involving Kimberly’s twin brother. Miller County prosecutors recently upped the charges in Kimberly’s death to second-degree murder from manslaughter while formally charging the couple with child endangerment for the alleged neglect of their son.
The boy and three older children living in the home at the time of Kimberly’s death are in foster care, according to a probable cause affidavit. Kimberly allegedly died of severe neglect and her brother’s dire condition was attributed to the same.
When deputies responded to the house Sept. 27 in the 3400 block of Miller County 9, they found Kimberly not breathing and her twin in acute distress.
Randy McAdams, a first responder and Texarkana, Arkansas, police officer, was able to revive Kimberly briefly but she died before a LifeNet helicopter arrived.
Investigators noted that the day crib the babies shared was placed in a room with piles of laundry. As investigators photographed the children’s bed, roaches allegedly crawled on the walls and in the crib.
Morrow allegedly claimed she’d given both infants bottles at 5 a.m. that morning and the evening before, but medical professionals noted signs of severe dehydra
tion and malnutrition. The infants’ grandfather had come to the house shortly before the emergency call for help was made.
Miller County Coroner Dakota Bloyd noted dried secretions around
Kimberly’s eyes, nose, mouth and ears; she was wearing a heavily soiled diaper; and she had dirty fingernails.
An autopsy determined Kimberly’s body ranked in less than the fifth percentile for her age and gender, that her eyes were sunken, her fontanel was depressed, her muscles were wasting and her ribs were protruding.
According to the affidavit, a doctor at Arkansas Children’s Hospital told investigators, “Any caregiver in the home with (the infant boy) and his twin would be expected to recognize the child was scientifically sick and in need of immediate care.”
Bail for both Morrow and Harley has been set at $50,000. They are currently being held in the Miller County jail. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell is representing the state.