Actor Billy Bob Thornton's eldest daughter has been charged with child neglect over the death of a one-year-old girl she was babysitting. Amanda Brumfield, Billy Bob's eldest daughter, 29, by first wife Melissa Parish told police in Ocoee, Florida, the baby died in October after falling from her playpen.
She told the police the little girl was on top of her playpen when she called her name, startling the baby who fell 28 inches, but the police found her story suspicious.
An autopsy revealed the child suffered a fractured skull and a brain injury due to blunt trauma - a type of physical injury to the head.
Brumfield, 29, said she noticed the baby's tongue was bleeding after the fall and cleaned it with a paper towel.
She claimed she then played with the child, who seemed 'happy', and fed her bananas and fruit snacks.
Brumfield told police she laid the child next to her on the couch and fell asleep, celebrity website TMZ reports.
She says she was woken up by a phone call and went to take the child back to the playpen, only to find her body was limp when she lifted her.
Police say Brumfield's call for help did not come until two-and-a-half hours after the original fall.
'It might have been an accident, but she had an obligation to get that child care,' said a police spokesman. said. 'For two and a half hours she did not care for that child.'
Billy Bob Thornton's publicist told CNN news that Thornton is estranged from Amanda and has had no contact with her for quite some time.
Arnold Robinson told CNN in a written statement: 'When informed about this situation, he [Billy Bob] commented that, "'Anytime a baby's life is lost is an unimaginable tragedy and my heart goes out to the baby's family and loved ones'".
The actor's first wife, Melissa Parish said her daughter, an unemployed bank loan officer, was close friends with the baby's mother and couldn't have harmed the little girl named Olivia.
'It's a tragic situation, she loved that little so much and it [her death] just crushed her, just devastated her," Parish told The New York Post.
'She was Olivia's godmother and the mother's best friend. It's just a horrible situation and it's being made worse and exploding even more just because of who my ex-husband is.'
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Baby Sitter Charged In Infant's Death1-Year-Old Died In Sitter's Care In OctoberPOSTED: Friday, May 29, 2009
UPDATED: 9:30 am EDT May 30, 2009 OCOEE, Fla. -- A Central Florida woman arrested in the death of her best friend's 1-year-old child bonded out of jail on Saturday.Amanda Brumfield, 30, was arrested Friday on charges of child neglect resulting in harm.
According to authorities, Heather Murphy's daughter, Olivia, died Oct. 4 after she was injured inside an Ocoee home while in the care of Brumfield, who said the girl fell and bumped her head.
Brumfield, a mother of three, told investigators that Olivia was balancing on a playpen when she slipped and fell. The medical examiner concluded seven months later that the girl died from blunt head trauma. Brumfield did not call for help for more than two hours after Olivia was injured, authorities said.
"It's not fair she can go on with happy kids, that she can celebrate Mother's Day and I will cry on Mother's Day, October 4th. It's not fair," Murphy said. "She's not sorry. (She's) sorry she got caught, not sorry for what she did. If Amanda goes to jail, it doesn't make up for all the time I've missed, all the things I'm missing. No price is great enough to pay, but whatever happens, happens."
If convicted, Brumfield could get no more than 15 years in prison. Police are not charging her with murder and said she was charged with neglect because she waited about 2.5 hours to call for help.
Brumfield did not say anything as she was escorted from jail by an unidentified man.
OCOEE, Fla. -- More details have been released in the case involving a Central Florida child dying while in the care of a baby sitter who is Billy Bob Thornton's estranged daughter.
