Heidi Cobler (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A woman caught on video striking a three-year-old developmentally disabled child on the head with her hand and shortly after spanking the child apparently for crying made a first appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Thirty-year-old Heidi Elizabeth Cobler, who lists several addresses, including along U.S. Highway 62 East and in Bull Shoals, entered a not guilty plea to charges of second-degree domestic battering.
She was ordered to reappear Oct. 7.
According to the probable cause affidavit, an investigator for the Department of Child and Family Services sent two videos to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office asking an investigator to view the videos and contact the DCFS worker.
A social services case had just been completed on evidence captured on the two videos sent to police.
The investigators who viewed the video said, “the strike to the child’s head is notable due to the loud report it caused and the child’s screaming in apparent pain.”
Cobler was identified as the child’s stepmother and investigators learned the victim was developmentally disabled to the point it could only use about three words.
Cobler’s bond is set at $25,000, according to the detention center log.
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