BEDFORD – Friday morning in Lawrence County Superior Court 1, the jury heard that 33-year-old Cheyenne Hill was a loving mother to her 20-month-old daughter, Elliaunna Plummer.
Hill is facing a Level 1 felony charge of child neglect causing death. She has pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Judge John Plummer III is presiding. Robert Hamilton of Salem is representing Hill. Deputy Prosecutors Sarah Cummings and Joshua Scherschel present the case for the state.
Elli Plummer had suffered a brain bleed, a broken collar bone, and had head and facial bruising. She also had a swollen and deformed head with bruising to her forehead and the left and right sides of her face.
On November 26, 2022, Elli was pronounced dead at 4:35 p.m.
A post-mortem examination conducted by Pathologist Doctor Amanda Paul concluded the manner of death was a homicide and that the injuries would have occurred after November 21, 2022, and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
Mary Martin testified that Elli was a beautiful child full of life. Martin was Elli’s babysitter from March 2022 until mid-July 2022, while Hill worked at PRD Inc.
“She was always smiling, liked her Veggie Tails, and loved to be outside,” Martin said. “Cheyenne was a very good mother.”
Martin said Hill struggled to get pregnant, but when she did, Hill was thrilled when she conceived.
“She really wanted to be a mom,” Martin added. “She was very excited to be a mom.”
Martin was with Hill at Riley Hospital for Children when Hill learned her child had brain dead,
“They had to take her (Cheyenne) for a mental evaluation. She was very quiet and then bawling and quiet again,” Martin said. “She did this for days.”
Another friend, Brittany Franklin, testified Hill and Elli lived with her in Spencer for three weeks in October 2022. Franklin has been friends with Hill for more than 24 years.
“She (Cheyenne) had a difficult childhood,” Franklin testified. “She and her mother didn’t get along. She was always going to different schools.”
Franklin testified Hill struggled to become pregnant and suffered several miscarriages.
She also explained Hill’s dark humor.
“She would say things that if you didn’t know Cheyenne would make you concerned, but it was just Cheyenne. While at the hospital, she said she no longer had to worry about not using Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo because she believed it contained formaldehyde. But she didn’t need to worry about it because that is in embalming fluid. She didn’t mean anything by it. It was just Cheyenne’s way of coping.”
Franklin didn’t always agree with Hill’s choices.
“She had character flaws, and her character judgments were flawed, but she never neglected her daughter,” said Franklin.
Amanda Johnson, who has known Hill for more than 24 years, testified she and Hill ran a daycare for about eight months many years ago.
“She was great with the kids,” Johnson said. “Cheyenee lacked confidence, but it was because of her childhood. She was the black sheep. Her family was not close, and she didn’t have much of a family life.”
Diana Bowlen, a pastor’s wife, testified she met Hill in 2008 as a young woman. She used “rough words,” but it was because of her upbringing.
She testified she saw Hill on Easter 2022 with Elli.
“When you talked to Cheyenne, it was all about Elli,” Bowlen testified. “She had said she finally had someone to love and someone to love her back.”
Bowlen said Hill contacted her by phone sometime after Easter, asking if an apartment the church owned was available.
“She needed somewhere to stay,” said Bowlen. “But the apartment was full at that time. I wish I had brought her and Elli into my home. I feel things would have been different, and Elli would still be alive.”
Bowlen said her husband Darin performed Elli’s funeral.
“Cheyenne was devastated,” Bowlen said. “She was in shock; she didn’t know what to do with herself.”
