BEDFORD – Cheyenne Hill testified in her defense this morning in Lawrence County Superior Court I.
Hill, 33, is facing a Level 1 felony charge of child neglect after the death of her daughter, Elliaunna (Elli) M. Plummer. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
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.
Before taking the stand, Judge Plummer and her defense attorney instructed her she had the right to remain silent and that the decision to testify had to be solely her choice.
Hill said she understood but wanted to testify.
Hill testified about her rough childhood. She had no father figure, just the men her mother had been with “off and on throughout my childhood.”
Hill testified about her numerous health issues, and she suffered from depression, social anxiety, and borderline personality disorder. She suffered six miscarriages before giving birth to Elli.
“I was so happy when I found out I was pregnant, but I was also afraid I would not carry her to term,” She added. “I wanted my baby so much. I was so excited when I could feel her move. She was my rainbow baby, my everything, my universe. She was my entire universe.”
When Elli was born, Hill lived with Elli’s father.
“He squeezed her too hard and would get aggravated with her. I freaked out and knew he wouldn’t be a good father, so I left. I wouldn’t let my sister be near my child because she was a drug addict.”
Hill moved to Maple Ridge Apartments.
There, she met Cameron Fleming, who was separated from his wife. They had a romantic relationship.
Fleming’s wife also lived in the apartment complex. There was a love triangle, and Kara Fleming threatened Hill and Elli. There were physical confrontations, Hill said.
Hill testified about Elli’s injuries.
“She had normal bumps and bruises as any toddler had,” Hill said.
Then Elli fell off the bed and developed a softball-sized bump on her forehead.
“I was in the shower and heard Elli fall,” Hill testified. “I was so worried about the lump on her head that I didn’t notice the other bruising… All I noticed was the prominent knot on her head. Cameron was a former nurse, so I thought he knew what to do. He said to ice it and give her ibuprofen.”
Hill said when Elli’s hair fell out, she took her to the doctor in October.
“They thought it could be Lupus, and we took her to the lab for blood work, but the person who does it for children was not there, so we left,” Hill said.
She never returned to the hospital with Elli for that blood test because she had no ride.
Hill talked about her dark humor.
“I am a very nervous person and have social anxiety. I get nervous and use humor to cover it up,” Hill said. “I laugh when I should cry. I don’t have the ability to understand my emotions.”
Hill said when she referred to Elli as Jeffery Dahmer she didn’t know who Dahmer was.
“I thought he was the guy who got all those people to drink the Kool-Aid,” she added. “I never thought he (Dahmer) was a serial killer. I did call her a little ***hole. She was in her terrible twos and sometimes was mean. she would hit and bite and look at you in a state of anger. But she was a spoiled rambunctious child.”
Jeffrey Dahmer, also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismembered seventeen males between 1978 and 1991.
James Warren Jones was an American cult leader and mass murderer who led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. He orchestrated a mass murder-suicide in his remote jungle commune at Jonestown.
Hill testified she never let her child eat off the floor when the prosecutor presented that she threw food on the floor and told Elli to fetch it.
“I said free roam, not free range,” Hill said.
The prosecution then presented a photo taken from Hill’s cell phone of Elli eating Roman noodles off the floor.
Elli died after suffering a brain bleed, a broken collar bone, and 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.
This afternoon, the jury will hear closing arguments, be given jury instruction, and will begin deliberating.
