A woman caught on video striking a three-year-old developmentally disabled child on the head with her hand and shortly after seen spanking the child appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Monday.
Thirty-one-year-old Heidi Elizabeth Cobler, who lists several addresses on court documents, including along U.S. Highway 62 East, Bull Shoals and Thayer, Missouri, pled guilty to 3rd degree domestic battery and was put on probation for a year.
A request was granted by Circuit Judge John Putman to lift a no contact order that had been put in place earlier. The order was modified in early June to allow contact between Cobler and the child but only on a supervised basis.
14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said the injuries sustained by the victim did not rise to a level required for more serious charges to be filed. “This case bothers me a great deal but there is no alternative, you have to follow the law.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, in late August last year, a Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) investigator 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.
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.” In the second video taken about five minutes after the first, Cobler is reportedly seen spanking the child who was still crying from the blow to the head.
Cobler was identified as the victim’s stepmother. Investigators learned the child was developmentally disabled and could only use about three words.
Cobler has been free on a $10,000 bond.
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