Crime & Safety

La Vergne Parents Charged In Baby's Death Go To Trial

The trial of a mother and father charged in their baby's starvation death begins.

MURFREESBORO, TN — More than three years after the death of their five-month-old daughter, the trial of two La Vergne parents charged with her murder began Monday. Mother Sinead Omer, 25, and father Terry Craighead, 27, are charged with aggravated child neglect, felony murder in perpetration of aggravated child neglect, aggravated child abuse and felony murder in perpetration of aggravated child abuse in the November 18, 2013, death of Skyler Craighead. The medical examiner said the cause of death was starvation and dehydration.

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The jury heard a December 2013 interview between Craighead and La Vergne Police Detective Kevin Stolinsky. Stolinsky told Craighead that his daughter had lost 27 percent of her body weight between her last doctor's visit in October and her death roughly a month later, according to the Daily News Journal.

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The hotel room in which the small family was living contained liquor bottles, medications for the baby, hypodermic needles, oxygen tanks and feeding equipment, according to an evidence technician with the La Vergne Police Department, in addition to cocaine and marijuana.

Omer and Craighead face life in prison if convicted. The trial could stretch into next week if it does not conclude by Thursday, given the Good Friday holiday.

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Image via Rutherford County Sheriff's Department

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