Kelly Foreman
Nearly a week has passed since 2-year-old Callie Robinson allegedly was murdered, and the girl’s mother still is in “disbelief,” her attorney said Wednesday after a preliminary hearing in Madison District Court.
V.J. Brinegar, the 23-year-old mother of Callie Robinson, is charged in the girl’s death along with Brinegar’s boyfriend, Ronnie Crabtree, 26. Brinegar has maintained her innocence, her attorney said.
“She wants to know how her child died,” said Susanne McCullough, a public defender from the Danville office, representing Brinegar. “She knows she didn’t do anything to the child.”
Throughout the hour-long court hearing, Brinegar could be heard whimpering as she listened to testimony from Richmond Police Detective Eric Long. Her body shook and her chin quivered as she looked back and forth between Long, her attorney and Crabtree.
“She is kind of in disbelief about all of this,” McCullough said following the hearing. “She is focused on the loss of her child, not self-preservation.”
A considerable amount of new information in the case was presented during the hearing, including new details about how the child may have suffered some of her injuries.
In a search warrant for Brinegar’s Barnes Mill apartment, Long indicated Callie had suffered burn marks to the bottom of her left foot on the second and third toe, her upper back left thigh, bottom of her right cheek and right corner of her mouth. She also had bruising to the right side of her forehead and visible injuries to her vaginal area.
Initially, sexual abuse was suspected based on the vaginal injuries, but Long testified that the state medical examiner ruled the injury actually was a “very severe diaper rash.”
Also during the autopsy, Long said the medical examiner investigated the burn marks to Callie’s body. Brinegar reportedly told police in an interview that the burns may have been caused by Callie’s 4-year-old brother.
“(Brinegar) said she came in three days ago and the little boy was holding the little girl’s foot to a plug,” Long testified. In the room where Callie was sleeping, Long said there is an electrical outlet which does not have a plastic cover. “She said he was holding her foot to the plug, shocking her.”
However, during the autopsy, Long said the medical examiner held a cigarette to the burns and they were consistent with the size of the burn. Both Brinegar and Crabtree are smokers, Long testified.
‘Mechanical suffocation’
Brinegar also reportedly told police that her son hit Callie with a large wooden crayon the family had in the home and that Callie would grab her own ears and pull on them. Long testified that Callie suffered severe bruising to her head and scalp area.
“The bruising was very deep,” he said. “From what I gathered, it would have taken a significant hit to cause a bruise that deep.”
The bruising in Callie’s ears went deep into the ear canal, which Long said would have taken significant force from someone pulling on their ears to cause the bruising. During an interview with the 4-year-old, Long said the child confirmed he had struck Callie with the crayon. He also indicated the girl was “whipped with the crayon,” Long said.
While results from a preliminary autopsy previously were released indicating “asphyxiation” as Callie’s cause of death, Long said Wednesday that specific details of the child suffering from “mechanical suffocation” also are pending. According to Columbia Encyclopedia, smothering “refers to the mechanical obstruction of the flow of air from the environment into the mouth and/or nostrils, for instance by covering the mouth and nose with a hand, pillow or a plastic bag. ... Normally, smothering requires at least partial obstruction of both the nasal cavities and the mouth to lead to asphyxia.”
The only details discussed during the preliminary hearing about Callie’s possible suffocation were during discussion of an activity referred to as the “burrito game.” Long could not recall where the phrase initiated, but said the 4-year-old described Brinegar and Crabtree wrapping he and his sister in blankets tightly enough that they were immobilized.
While searching the couple’s home, Long testified that Brinegar demonstrated the “burrito game” using a pillow and a blanket. Two blankets and a sleeping bag were seized from the home.
Child drank Smirnoff
Long testified about an acquaintance interview, which revealed some of the alleged circumstances in which Callie lived.
The woman reportedly told police that Brinegar came to her home several times to use her phone.
“She observed that V.J. had been on drugs when she came over to her apartment,” Long said. “She mentioned that they would let (Callie) drink Smirnoff (vodka). ... She said she saw burns on both of her feet and she mentioned to the little girl, ‘What happened to you? Did a cigarette burn you?’ And the little girl shook her head (affirmatively).”
Two days before Callie died, Long said the acquaintance had seen V.J., and that V.J. pleaded with her to take her children.
“She said she would let them have them because she didn’t know if her and Ronnie would be around,” Long said. “She told her she was pregnant and she had to do something with them because she couldn’t afford them.”
While listening to Long testify about the conversation, Brinegar shook her head in denial.
“She was definitely trying to give them to somebody else,” Long said.
Madison District Judge Brandy O. Brown found probable cause to refer to the case to the grand jury for possible indictment. Brown overruled a motion to dismiss the tampering with physical evidence charges against Brinegar as well as a motion to lower Brinegar’s bond.
McCullough argued that because Brinegar has no criminal history and is not the defendant who fled the scene, that she should not have the same $250,000 bond as Crabtree, who has an extensive criminal background.
“I’m inclined to agree,” Brown said, “But I’m more inclined to double his.”
Crabtree’s attorney, public defender Sam Cox, asked for Crabtree’s bond to be reviewed as well, but it was left at the previously set $250,000 cash. Both defendants still are lodged in the Madison County Detention Center.
Child ‘not murdered’
Ronnie Crabtree’s father, Ronald Crabtree Sr., spoke to media following the hearing Wednesday and also said his son is innocent.
“They might be guilty of not being good parents,” the elder Crabtree said. “If they had been older and wiser this wouldn’t have happened.”
Crabtree Sr. said the child had not been murdered, but that Callie was sick. He told reporters that his son and Brinegar were a wonderful couple and that Ronnie loved all his children. He blamed police for using his son as an example.
“Ronnie has been hounded all his life,” Crabtree Sr. said. “At 15 and 16 (years old) they got him strung out on drugs and used him as an informant. “A lot of this exercise going on is because of that school (EKU). I believe this is a lot about training.”
Funeral services were conducted Tuesday for Callie at a funeral home in Lebanon, Ohio. She was buried in the Deerfield Cemetery in South Lebanon, Ohio, according to the National Obituary Archive. Callie is listed as survived by her father, Ira Robinson of Middletown, Ohio. Brinegar is not mentioned in the child’s obituary.
To leave messages of condolence for the family, go to www.stinekilburnfuneralhome.com, click on the “obituaries” link, and then click on Callie Robinson.
Kelly Foreman can be reached at kforeman@richmondregister.com or 624-6694.
