Father Guilty Of Second-Degree Murder In Infant Daughter's Death

MARIETTA, GA -- A Marietta man has been convicted of second-degree murder for failing to seek help for his 10-month-old daughter, who died in August 2017. On Tuesday, after a trial that lasted more than a week and included testimony from the defendant, a Cobb jury convicted Sidrick Raymone Melancon Sr., 32, of all charges, including murder in the second degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, and two counts of influencing a witness.

Laura Higgenbotham was rushed to WellStar Kennestone Hospital and then airlifted to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on the afternoon of August 5, 2017, after Melancon drove the unresponsive and purplish child to an Urgent Care. Witnesses told the jury how he dropped the child “like a sack of potatoes” at the Urgent Care and then left, driving with another person to a liquor store and running errands. Earlier that morning, the child’s mother, Sadai Higgenbotham, had texted Melancon that she was unable to wake the child. Doctors found Laura suffering from massive bleeding on the brain, bleeding in the eye, soft-tissue trauma to her neck, and old and new fractures to her right leg. She was ultimately declared brain dead and removed from life support.

Higgenbotham, 27, is charged with malice murder and other charges related to the child’s death, and is awaiting trial.

Melancon, Sadai Higgenbotham and Laura Higgenbotham lived together in a Collingwood Drive apartment that also housed Melancon’s long-term girlfriend, Gerallyn, and the three children he fathered with her. Melancon testified that at the time of Laura’s death, he did not know he was Laura’s father, though he was having a sexual relationship with Sadai Higgenbotham. Melancon also acknowledged that Gerallyn had complained to him about Sadai’s treatment of Laura, and that Gerallyn had contacted the Department of Children’s Services about Laura, though he denied urging her to stop talking to investigators for fear that the children would be taken away.

Melancon also acknowledged that the two women worked to support the household so he could spend most of his time as an unpaid apprentice hairstylist, and that he established the rules for those living in the apartment, including when each woman was allowed to use the bathroom.

Investigators reviewed hundreds of text messages and recorded jail calls in which Melancon discussed what happened to the child and also directed Gerallyn and Sadai to lie to the police.

In one jail call, Melancon said: “I didn’t do anything to that baby, but I didn’t do anything for that baby. So … that’s on me.”

Melancon faces a maximum of 50 years in prison.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Shutterstock