Biloxi toddler smothered while punched in the stomach for crying, investigator testifies
A 21-year-old woman told police she held her hand over her 2-year-old son’s mouth until he turned blue while her husband repeatedly punched him in the stomach two days after Christmas, a Biloxi investigator testified Wednesday in court.
Joseph David Heard, 38, and Hailey Lynn Heard are each charged with capital murder in the death of Hayden “Bam Bam” Bataille.
New details about how Hayden died were released by Biloxi Inv. Nick Sonnier at Joseph Heard’s preliminary hearing in Harrison County Circuit Court. Hailey Heard waived her preliminary hearing.
Sonnier testified Biloxi police responded to a 911 call on Dec. 27, 2021, at 6 a.m. from Hailey Heard saying that her son was unresponsive.
Upon arrival, Biloxi police and paramedics found the child not breathing and attempted CPR before transporting him to a nearby hospital. Life-saving measures were performed, but Hayden was declared dead about 7 a.m.
Sonnier said police noticed severe bruising covering the child’s face, chest, back and arms, and the couple gave differing accounts when police initially questioned them.
Hailey Heard said that the child became unresponsive in the bedroom following a bath, while her husband said he found the child unresponsive in the living room after going to the kitchen.
The couple was initially charged with felony child abuse, but the charge was later upgraded to capital murder when an autopsy revealed the child died of suffocation by smothering.
Sonnier said Hailey Heard changed her story after being arrested in January.
She told police that on the day of her son’s death, her husband was holding the child’s arms above his head and repeatedly hitting him in the stomach, Sonnier testified. Hailey Heard told police she put her hand over the boy’s face to attempt to get him to stop crying until she noticed that Hayden was turning blue.
She also told investigators that her husband routinely hit the toddler for crying and urinating on himself, including hitting him in the face and hitting him with a spatula on an old burn, Sonnier testified.
Joseph Heard arrived in handcuffs escorted by police. He has a prior charge of touching of a child for lustful purposes.
During the hearing, he repeatedly shook his head in disagreement while Sonnier was testifying.
Judge Gaston Hewes Jr. found “more likely than not” the crime of capital murder had occurred and ordered the case to move forward to the grand jury.
A trial date was not set, and the couple remain in jail without bond.
Sun Herald reporter Margaret Baker contributed to this report.
