Dewey Neighbors React To Arrests In Baby's Murder

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations agents have arrested three people they believe are responsible for a 15-month-old's death in Dewey.

Officers found little Emma Beth Warmberodt dead on the front porch of her home two weeks ago today.

The Medical Examiner ruled it a homicide.

"It's so difficult to go in or out of my house and not look over there and think of that little baby and wonder what happened," next-door-neighbor Cheryl Johnson said.

3/8/12 Related Story: 15-Month-Old Girl Found Dead In Dewey

Johnson is relieved to finally hear some answers from police, who say it's been an emotional case.

"You get a little more involved when it's a child," Dewey Police Chief Mike Shea said.

The OSBI and Dewey police arrested the toddler's stepfather, 22-year-old Marcus Mitchell, for first-degree murder.

Dewey Police say Mitchell was home alone with the child when she started to choke on cereal.

They say Mitchell showed investigators how he struck the child on the back.

Mitchell says he admitted to seeing blood on the baby's face and cleaning it up.

"It's just a crying shame that they have to take it out on a little baby that cannot defend herself," neighbor Jerry Gehle said.

Mitchell's mother Jaunchelle Fitch was arrested for accessory to first-degree murder and also for enabling child abuse.

An affidavit shows she initially lied to investigators, saying she had changed the baby's diaper that day and the girl smiled.

But Friday morning, she changed her story -- telling police she saw bruises on Emma Beth's body but did not report them to authorities.

Fitch also admitted that after the baby died, she asked a witness to delete text messages about the incident that police wanted to read.

The baby's mother, 23-year-old Ashley Williamson Mitchell, was arrested for child neglect and enabling child abuse.

Her affidavit says she "failed to provide adequate medical care" for her child after noticing the injuries.

Investigators also say the house was a "filthy and inappropriate living environment for a child."

Court documents show a "pattern of abuse" against the baby.

The details are disturbing to neighbors, who had no idea Emma Beth was in such danger.

"I just hope God forgives them," Johnson said. "When you take an innocent life like that and there's ten people in the household and not one of them can stand up for that child, there's something wrong. Something terribly wrong."