BEDFORD – Elliaunna (Elli) Marji Plummer would have celebrated her birthday on Saturday, March 25, 2023. She would have been two.
Cheyenne Hill was not able to celebrate with her sweet little girl, instead, she spent the day crying and listening to her toddler’s favorite songs.
“Elli loved music,” said Hill. “Her favorite was Cover me in Sunshine by Pink and Your Gonna Be by Reba McEntire and she would go to sleep listening to Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick’s True Colors.”
Elli loved food, one of her favorites was chicken alfredo.
“She loved to watch Cocomelon and loved the color orange and looked so good in the color yellow,” added Hill.
Elli was a mommy’s girl.
Elli died on November 26, 2022, at 4:35 p.m. at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis after suffering a brain injury, a broken collar bone, and other injuries that appeared non-accidental. Her death has been ruled a homicide.
“I never left her with anyone unless I had to work and then she stayed with the babysitter,” added Hill. “She loved to play with her blocks and her Batman and Captain American action figures. She loved to swim and play in the water, and she loved puppies. She liked the tub so much it was her hiding place or place she would play.”
“On Monday, November 21, I worked 8 hours and on Tuesday, November 22, I worked 12 hours,” said Hill. “They didn’t tell me Elli wasn’t feeling well. When I picked her up they said her mouth had been bleeding but they said it was from her teething. They said she had slept all day. Had I known I would have left work and come home to take care of her.”
After picking Elli up from the babysitter the two walked upstairs to their apartment.
“We went upstairs (the babysitter and Hill live in the same apartment building) and I gave her a bath, we ate and we went to bed around 10:30 p.m. When I woke the next morning Elli was snoring. I asked my boyfriend to keep an eye on her and he called me about an hour later saying we needed to get her to the hospital.
Hill rushed her baby to IU Health Hospital. She was later flown by helicopter to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis.
“The investigation into the death of baby Elliaunna Plummer is still active and ongoing,” said Lawrence County Sheriff Greg Day. “Detectives have conducted multiple interviews, polygraph examinations have taken place, and numerous other investigative steps have been taken. “Investigators just received the final forensic pathology report, which will aid in the investigation as it continues to move forward.”
How could this happen?
“I asked the doctor when we were at Riley why I didn’t know what was wrong. They said that babies are resilient and you usually don’t know until it’s too late,” Hill added.
After learning Elli was brain dead and had no chance of recovery, Hill kept her baby on life support so she could donate Elli’s organs through the Indiana Donor Network.
“They kept her alive until they found people to give her organs to. I donated her organs because I was losing her. This way she could live on. I held her, talked to her, gave her a final sponge bath, and sang to her before they took her to surgery. I hope to hear her heartbeat again one day.”
Elli’s heart saved a little boy, her liver went to a little girl and her kidneys saved a 40-year-old male.
“I miss her. With every fiber of my being. I miss hearing her say mommy and I miss her touching my face,” said Hill. “She was held by me so often that people thought I coddled her. But I never wanted to let her go. She was my sunshine. I can’t listen to certain songs because it breaks me. She was my rainbow baby I had five miscarriages before her. She was my biggest blessing and she saved my life. I wasn’t told until close to the last few days they thought it wasn’t an accident. I’m lost without her and have no hope left except to see the people that did this get what they deserve.”
“Grieving her is like losing her over and over,” said Hill. “I cry every day and night. I close my eyes and have constant nights and daymares. I suffer greatly and I don’t know how to be anything anymore without her. I lost my little girl, I am lost without her.”
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