Police: Adults gave baby with broken leg marijuana; failed to seek treatment

MUNCIE, Ind. – Authorities say after her 10-month-old daughter suffered a broken leg, a Muncie mother and her boyfriend failed to seek prompt medical treatment.

Instead, they allegedly gave the baby marijuana as a pain reliever.

Tessa Rose Murray, 23, and Nerrell McCoy, 20, were arrested Monday, each preliminarily charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to an affidavit, authorities were notified June 18 after the baby was brought to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital for treatment of a “dislocated femur fracture.”

RELATED:

Woman's .385 BAC leads to neglect arrest

Parents held on meth, neglect charges

According to Muncie police investigator Kris Swanson, Murray said the baby was injured when she fell from a couch, but later said the injury came when an older child pulled on the baby’s leg as she fell from a bed.

Swanson later reviewed Murray’s cellphone and found text exchanges with McCoy that referred to the baby’s injury as early as June 13.

McCoy allegedly told his girlfriend, “(The baby) prolly needs some weed and she will be good for now.”

The following day, McCoy told Murray that “it’s not hurting (the baby) when he touches it anymore, and it’s only a whine, not a cry.”

According to the report, McCoy said in the text exchanges he believed the child had suffered a “muscle or tendon injury,” and said he had put her leg “in a book splint.”

Tests conducted on the child were “positive for marijuana in excess of what could be attributed to second-hand smoke,” Swanson wrote.

Both adults denied knowledge of how the child’s leg was broken. They acknowledged “not getting (the baby) property medical assistance caused additional pain and suffering that could have been avoided,” the document said.

The child was removed from her mother's custody last summer, authorities said. Medical information related to the case was only recently received by investigators.

Murray and McCoy were being held in the Delaware County jail on Tuesday under $10,000 bonds.

In two pending Muncie City Court cases, both filed in July, McCoy is charged with possession of marijuana.

Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.