Background: Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, Ark. (Google Maps). Inset: Tessa Jonell Thompson (Baxter County Jail).
An Arkansas woman who took in someone else”s children was charged with murder after the baby in her care died following a brain bleed.
Tessa Jonell Thompson, 29, faces a second-degree murder charge following her arrest last month related to a baby boy’s death she had taken into her care. As per a probable cause affidavit examined by Law&Crime, the infant was rushed to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, situated roughly 150 miles from Little Rock, after a distress call from Thompson’s residence in Midway indicated the baby was “barely breathing” on Aug. 29.
Upon arriving at the hospital, a Baxter County Sheriff’s investigator discovered the baby intubated, with “obvious bruising on the right side of his face.” Medical staff noted to the investigator that upon arrival, the bruise had been masked with makeup, seemingly in an attempt to hide the injury.
The affidavit states that the child was diagnosed with a brain bleed and subsequently transferred to a children’s hospital in Little Rock. Tragically, the baby was declared dead on Aug. 30 after being on life support for a day.
During police questioning, Thompson recounted caring for the baby boy and his 2-year-old sister for nearly ten days due to the children’s biological mother’s unstable housing situation. Thompson’s household also included her 5-year-old daughter and her own mother. When Thompson’s mother brought the other two children to the sheriff’s office, the investigator observed a “large bruise” on the 2-year-old’s cheek, which he suspected resulted from a “hand, fist, or object.”
Reportedly, Thompson confessed to getting “upset” and “slamming” the baby while he was in his playpen. Initially, she claimed she “pushed the infant down,” causing him to “hit the back of his head”; however, the investigator pointed out the bruise was on the front of the baby’s face. Eventually, Thompson admitted to striking the infant “hard with an open palm” earlier that day, as noted in the affidavit.
Thompson told police she waited “10-15 minutes” before attempting to conceal the injury by applying makeup on the baby. It was at this point she realized the baby wasn’t breathing.
When it came to the bruise on the 2-year-old girl, Thompson admitted that she hit the little girl in the face “because she was upset that she was crying.”
Police placed Thompson under arrest; the 2-year-old girl was handed over to a friend of her biological mother, and Thompson’s 5-year-old daughter was placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
Thompson was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree domestic battery causing serious injury, and second-degree domestic battery. She is currently in custody at the Baxter County Jail where she is being held on $100,000 bond.
