Two face charges after baby’s death

A couple living in a Batesville motel room face charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and possession of drug paraphernalia after finding their 9- month- old daughter dead in the room Saturday afternoon.

Bobby Dewayen Gipson, 43, of Newport, and Lisa Frances Lilly, 31, of Pearl River, La., called police to the Super 8 Motel on St. Louis Street in Batesville to report their daughter, Gracie Susan Gipson, was not breathing.

Sgt. Shane Hightower of the Batesville Police Department said in an arrest affidavit filed Monday in Independence County Circuit Court when he entered Room 214, he saw medical personnel attending to the infant. He said paramedics told him the youngster had been dead for “some time.”

Hightower reported the room was in “complete disarray” and said he found several bottles of prescription and over- the- counter medication in the bathroom and on a nightstand near the bed. Hightower also found numerous loose pills on the floor along with a dirty diaper, a pizza box and cans of opened and unopened baby food.

The officer said he found an empty bottle of alcohol on top of the motel room’s air conditioner along with several cigarette butts.

Batesville police detective Lt. Kyle Williford said authorities found the baby about 2:45 p.m. Saturday. He said the infant was lying on her back at the foot of the bed, and he reported seeing a large hematoma-type injury on the right side of her head.

Williford said he questioned Gipson and Lilly about what happened.

“They were confused” and couldn’t tell officers about the child’s death, he said.

Williford said Gipson has been charged before with drug violations, and Lilly had her other children removed from her home by the state Department of Human Services because of drug use.

Gipson and Lilly were arraigned Tuesday in Independence County Circuit Court.