A Hawaii babysitter was charged with manslaughter earlier this month for February’s death of a 7-month-old girl who authorities claimed died of an antihistamine overdose.
Court documents obtained by KHNL stated that Abigail Lobisch, who died at Dixie Denise Villa’s home on the Aliamanu Military Reservation, had twice the fatal concentration of Benadryl in her blood when she died. Villa, 41, had called police to her home on February 24, reportedly claiming the infant had been fine all day before finding her unresponsive.
The Honolulu Star reported that Lobisch’s mother had left her daughter and 2-year-old son at a Disney resort and spa in Ko Olina on the morning of February 23. Villa’s two children and the two siblings reportedly spent the day at the pool before Villa took the children to her home that afternoon.
Villa reportedly treated the children for sunburns and fed them before putting them to bed at 10 p.m. She told police that Lobisch didn’t wake up through the night, which she thought was odd but attributed it to being in the sun all day. It wasn’t until 8 a.m. the next day when she saw Lobisch lying facedown and her skin appeared “splotchy” and “cold to the touch,” according to the news outlet.
A Honolulu medical examiner listed Lobisch’s cause of death as “diphenhydramine toxicity,” noting that children younger than six shouldn’t be given the drug without a physician’s approval. While police have not accused Villa of using the drug to put the infant to sleep, KHNL reported the examiner advised against doing just that in their report.
Villa was reportedly Lobisch’s babysitter for five months. However, reports indicate that the day care Villa ran was unlicensed—with a neighbor previously telling Stars and Stripes that she witnessed multiple children being left unattended on the property.
The neighbor also claimed they filed a complaint through the military’s Interactive Customer Evaluation, resulting in military police shutting down the operation three days before Lobisch’s death. Stars and Stripes reported that the day care remained open despite the neighbor’s repeated calls, several police raids, and two official cease-and-desist notices.
Villa, who turned herself in on July 20, remains jailed on $1 million bail.
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[Featured image: Abigail Lobisch/GoFundMe]
