Man pleads guilty in death of baby
Feb. 9—ARCHDALE — A man pleaded guilty this week in Randolph County Superior Court in the beating death of a 4-month-old girl nearly five years ago in Archdale.
Billy Ray Newsome III, 36, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and felony intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury, the Archdale Police Department reported Friday. Newsome was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Newsome's co-defendant, Kendra Olivia Johnson, 23, the girl's mother, is still awaiting trial, according to Archdale police.
The crime occurred on Nov. 9, 2019, at a location on Lake Road.
Police went to the house on Lake Road on Nov. 9, 2019, after a report that a baby at the house was not breathing. The girl, Nevaeh Faith Johnson, was taken to Brenner Children's Hospital in Winston-Salem, where she died Nov. 12.
The investigation report said that although EMS was able to get Nevaeh's heart beating after about 15 minutes of CPR, she never breathed on her own throughout her nearly three days of medical care, she showed "no evidence of any neurologic activity whatsoever," and a scan showed no evidence of blood flow to the brain.
An autopsy showed the girl suffered repeated, severe injuries throughout her body. The 13-page autopsy report contained repeated references to hemorrhages and fractures.
The autopsy's major findings included an acute skull fracture, bleeding on the brain, brain swelling, inflammation of the middle ears, bleeding in the retinas, numerous rib fractures, collar bone fractures, and fractures of the arms and legs, the autopsy report said.
The fractures were in various stages of healing, the medical examiner's report said, which indicates injuries that occurred at different times.
