Rebecca Kipp: Mom gets 12 years in prison as baby suffocates to death after being left alone for 'hours'
WARNER ROBINS, GEORGIA: In connection with the 2019 suffocation death of her 3-month-old son Nickolas Bryan who was discovered dead on a couch at a residence in southern Bibb County, a Warner Robins mother entered a guilty plea on Monday, December 5, 2022, to second-degree murder. Rebecca Taylor Kipp, 25, was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to 12 years in prison and another eight years on probation at a hearing in Bibb Superior Court.
A 911 call was made to Kipp's residence in the 2800 block of Regina Drive on June 11, 2019, according to a press release from the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. First responders had discovered the deceased infant "lying face down on a sofa, where Kipp had placed him hours before," according to a statement released by the police.
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The infant's face was allegedly wedged between two couch cushions in a way that prevented him from moving so on his own, according to The Telegraph. “The 3-month-old child was found in a position that he couldn’t have gotten himself into, while on the couch. The infant was found face down, between the cushions,” investigators reportedly said after Kipp turned herself over to authorities in October 2019.
Nickolas' grandmother reportedly went back to the house during her lunch break and discovered her grandson's dead body. It has been reported that she dialed 911. According to information obtained by investigators from a motion detector located inside Kipp's home, Nickolas was left unattended on the couch for around three hours, while Kipp was elsewhere in the house. After conducting an autopsy on the child, the medical examiners reportedly concluded that the child most likely died from suffocation on the couch cushion because he was unable to lift his head.
According to the release, before "finally admitted that she had been frustrated with the child and left him unattended on the sofa while she slept from about 10:00 a.m. until her mother came home at about 1:30 p.m.," Kipp told detectives "multiple stories" about what transpired during the investigation into Nickolas' death. Kipp suffered postpartum depression at the time of Nickolas' death, according to investigators.
“My Office will always go the extra mile to uncover the facts and to prosecute cases involving injury or death to the youngest and most vulnerable, members of our communities,” Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita R Howard said in a statement. She also said that the evidence obtained by authorities pointed to Nickolas’ death being a case of “negligent homicide," according to a report by Law&Crime.
The Bibb County Sheriff's Department was also recognized by the district attorney's office "for its diligent efforts in discovering the tragic truth" regarding Nickolas' death.