For months, Anna Lobisch of Honolulu, Hawaii, thought her 7-month-old daughter Abigail had died last February from sudden infant death syndrome. But the truth would turn out to be far more devastating. A preliminary autopsy report in July revealed that her daughter, whom she called Abi, had actually died from a deadly overdose of Benadryl — which had allegedly been given by the child's babysitter, Dixie Denise Villa. Now, months before Villa is set to go to trial, Anna is opening up publicly about what it felt like to learn the heartbreaking truth about her daughter's preventable death.
After the true cause of Abi's death was discovered, Villa was taken into police custody and charged with manslaughter.
An 18-page autopsy of the child's body was recently released, which showed that before her death on February 24, 2019, Abi had no known health issues listed in her medical history. According to Hawaii News Now, she was an otherwise healthy and happy 7-month-old.
But a blood test revealed stunning new information: At the time of her death, Abi had diphenhydramine, the active ingredient in Benadryl, in her system.
According to the autopsy report, the little girl had 2,400 ng/mL of Benadryl in the heart blood and more than 5,000 ng/mL in the urine specimen that was tested. The results from her urine test suggested that there actually might have been more Benadryl in her system that already passed.
The report noted that any dosage higher than 1,400 ng/mL could be fatal in infants. Benadryl is not recommended for children under 6 years old.
A year after her daughter's death, Anna is now 20 weeks pregnant with a baby boy.
But despite looking forward to meeting her new baby, it's been a difficult year for the mom, who recently shared the exact moment she learned her daughter's baby sitter was behind her death.
“Shocked and hurt and confused," Anna told Hawaii News Now of the day the medical examiner told her of their findings.
In the months since Abi's death, the grieving mom has struggled to make it through so many things her daughter should have been here for.
“To deal with the firsts without her, the first Christmas, the first New Year’s … " she said. "We miss her."
Villa's trial is set for May 26. Yet while Anna might receive justice for the death of her daughter, if Villa is convicted, even that couldn't make up for all that she's lost.
“The one thing I learned from Abi’s death is that there’s no closure on something like this," she shared. "You don’t ever get closure, we just relive it every day.”
