Infant Dies After Being Found Unresponsive In RV; Parents Charged With Murder

The parents of a 9-month-old boy have been arrested after the infant was found unresponsive in an RV parked outside a convenience store in Georgia Sunday, police said.

Officers responded to the Buc-ee’s in Warner Robins, Georgia, Sunday night after receiving a call about an unconscious baby, the Warner Robins Police Department said in a statement.

The mother told first responders that the child's father was bathing the infant inside their RV when he dropped the baby boy, investigators said.

The boy was brought to a Macon hospital before being airlifted to a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta location.

Doctors found injuries on the child — "past and present" — that were consistent with abuse, police said.

"There were injuries that were consistent with abuse. It was not consistent with a child that may have been crawling around at 9 months, crawling on a cabinet or falling off something," Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner was quoted as saying by 13 WMAZ.

The child’s parents, 40-year-old Christopher Scott Palmer, of New York, and 26-year-old Shelly Deanna Rooks, of Waynesville, Georgia, were arrested on child cruelty charges and held in the Peach County Detention Center.

Two minor siblings were turned over to the Department of Family and Children Services in Peach County.

Wagner said the baby never regained consciousness and died from severe head injuries Friday morning after being taken off life support.

"We're supposed to nourish them. We're supposed to teach them. We're supposed to guard them and be there for them. This was a 9-month-old defenseless child that had no way to say 'ouch' except that he probably cried," the police chief said.

The parents’ charges were upgraded after police were notified that the 9-month-old boy had died. Palmer now faces additional charges of felony murder and aggravated battery, while Rooks is charged with second-degree murder.

A parent who spoke to Fox28 said that he was shocked by the incident and that he could never imagine doing anything of this nature to his children.

"This is one of the worst things you can do," a parent named William Gill said. "Abuse someone of that age that has no way of defending themselves."

The identity of the child was not disclosed by authorities. The investigation into the boy's death is ongoing.

Authorities are seeking help from the public for any information that could help in the case. Those with information are asked to call detectives at 478-302-5380.