Mother of infant who died in babysitter’s care testifies in manslaughter trial

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The mother of an infant who died while in a babysitter’s care at Aliamanu Military Reservation in 2019 took the stand Thursday morning.
Anna Lobisch waited more than five years to face the woman accused in the drug overdose death of her 7-month-old daughter Abigail, breaking into tears several times.
“He said ‘Sorry, your daughter didn’t make it, and we did everything that we could, but she was too far. She was too far gone,’” said Lobisch in tearful testimony, recounting how she first learned Abigail had died from a first responder outside the home of Dixie Denise Villa on Feb. 24, 2019.
Lobisch testified Villa had been caring for Abigail and her 2-year-old son, Zach, since November 2018 as she worked and attended school full time.
She said she hired Villa to watch them overnight on February 23, 2019, so she could study, take a Honolulu Police Department officer exam and care for herself. She said she was in the middle of a difficult divorce from her children’s father, who was in the U.S. Army Reserve.
When asked why she needed a sitter that particular weekend, Lobisch said, “I was in school. I had exams coming up, and I needed a break.”
HPD detective Ryan Kyle, who responded to the scene, said Villa recreated what happened, showing how she slept with Lobisch’s children and her own two children in the same bed and found Abigail face down unresponsive the next morning.
Villa performed CPR on Abigail, but the baby was pronounced dead just before 9 a.m.
“She was calm and there was little emotion shown,” Kyle said.
Dr. Jon Gates, a forensic pathologist who conducted Abigail’s autopsy, said she died from diphenhydramine toxicity with more than double the amount proven fatal in infants found in her blood and urine.
Commonly sold as Benadryl, the drug is also found in medicines like Tylenol PM.
Villa’s attorney tried to cast doubt on when and how Abigail ingested the drug, suggesting it could have been through breastmilk or given before the baby was in Villa’s care.
The doctor rejected those claims.
“I can say with certainty that it wasn’t Tylenol PM, which also contains acetaminophen, which would have been present on my toxicology test,” he said.
“Diphenhydramine is eliminated from the body anywhere from 24 to 40 hours after it’s given,” he said. “Whatever dose led to this level of 2.4 milligrams per liter was not given days ago.”
The trial resumes 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
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