Left: Dixie Denise Villa in court. Right: Abigail Lobisch. Background: The Hawaii military reservation where Villa gave Abigail Lobisch a fatal dose of Benadryl (Hawaii News Now/YouTube).
The U.S. Army has agreed to a $900,000 settlement with the parents of a 7-month-old girl who died after receiving a lethal dose of Benadryl at an “unauthorized” daycare operating on a Hawaii military base.
Anna Lobisch and Army National Guard member James Lobisch filed a lawsuit against the Army in 2020 following the February 2019 death of their daughter, Abigail. The child died at the Aliamanu Military Reservation on Oahu, a “privatized military housing community” administratively controlled by U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii, according to federal court records.
Abigail was in the care of Dixie Denise Villa, an unlicensed daycare operator who was convicted of manslaughter in 2024 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The parents alleged that the defendants were responsible for Abigail’s death because they failed to stop Villa, a resident of the military community, from operating an unauthorized daycare out of her home. The Justice Department made the allegation in an August petition seeking court approval of the $900,000 settlement.
Court filings state that the Army received multiple reports of unauthorized childcare at Villa’s home in 2017 and 2018 and responded by sending several cease-and-desist letters. On Feb. 23, 2019, Anna Lobisch left Abigail with Villa overnight. The baby slept in Villa’s bed. The next morning, Villa found Abigail cold and unresponsive and called 911. Authorities determined that Abigail died after Villa administered a fatal amount of diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl.
Prosecutors said children younger than 6 should not be given diphenhydramine without a doctor’s orders.
“The amount of Benadryl found in the blood system of baby Abi shouldn’t be given to any minor, much less to a baby seven months old,” Judge Faaunga To’oto’o said during Villa’s May 2025 sentencing, according to The Navy Times. “Those are the facts in this case.”
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Speaking to reporters on the day Villa was sentenced, Anna Lobisch said the pain of losing Abigail had never diminished. “My life has been defined by grief and loss and the pain of living without Abi is a heavy weight I will carry every single day for the rest of my life until Abi and I are finally reunited,” she said, according to The Military Times. “I’ll never hear her call me mama.”
Villa was also accused of failing to provide safe care for the children at the facility. According to the Lobisch family’s complaint, witnesses reported seeing several children crying and screaming in the backyard without adult supervision. In one incident, a young boy was reportedly seen crying after becoming trapped by his head in a play structure.
“[The boy] had been essentially abandoned until other little children were able to free him,” the complaint stated.
Abigail’s parents and prosecutors alleged that Villa gave the infant a lethal dose of Benadryl to make her “lose consciousness.”
The Lobisch family’s complaint argued that the defendants knew, or should have known, that Villa’s illegal childcare operation exposed children to unreasonable risks. As a result, the parents said, officials had a duty to notify Child Protective Services but failed to do so.
The lawsuit also named Island Palm Communities, the contractor that owned and managed Villa’s housing. Court records show that the parties announced Oct. 9 that Island Palm Communities and the Lobisch family were still working to finalize the settlement’s terms and conditions.
The post Baby who couldn’t sleep was given ‘lethal dose’ of Benadryl by woman running ‘unauthorized’ daycare on military base, now the Army is paying for it: Docs first appeared on Law & Crime.
