Cops: Parents Vacationed as Newborn Starved to Death

The parents of a 22-day-old girl from Indiana have been charged with first-degree murder following the newborn’s Dec. 23 death.

The incident that led to the arrest unfolded around 6:10 p.m. Dec. 23 when the Lakeland Police Department received a call about an unresponsive infant at the 4705 U.S. 98 N. Golden Coral. The parents told police they found their daughter, Betsey Kee Stephens, unresponsive in her car seat and called 911, a media release from the department stated.

During the course of the investigation, police learned the family was vacationing in the area from Tennyson, Ind., and had checked into a local Comfort Inn. The mother told police she noticed Betsey’s feet were cold, so she covered them with a blanket.

Once the family checked into the inn, they headed to the Golden Coral to meet with family members from the area. At the restaurant, the mother told police she checked her daughter again and discovered her feet were “unusually cold and she got no response from the infant,” the release stated.

That’s when the 911 call was placed.

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Police and EMS arrived and took the baby to Lakeland Regional Medical Center where she was pronounced dead, the release stated.

The Polk County Medical Examiner subsequently ruled the death a homicide and the preliminary investigation indicates Betsey was dead for more than 3 hours before the 911 call was placed. It was determined the child died of malnutrition due to starvation.

Ruby Angeline Stephens, 23, and Roy Allen Stephens, 48, were brought into custody Tuesday morning and charged with first-degree murder, Bay News 9 reported.

The couple’s other two children, a 1-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, have been taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Both siblings, the police department reported, appear to be in good health.

As of late Tuesday morning, neither Stephens had been fully processed into the Polk County Jail.

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