Hayti woman charged with child’s murder

DYERSBURG, Tenn. — A 20-year-old Hayti, Missouri, woman was charged Tuesday, July 23 in the 2023 death of a 14-month-old child, according to a Dyersburg Police Department report.

Karmella Robinson will be arraigned on the charge in Dyersburg Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Friday morning, said DPD Detective Chuck Barrineau. He was recently reassigned to the case.

Barrineau said he watched Robinson’s original interviews with officers and detectives shortly after the child was found deceased. He contacted Robinson and requested her to come in for another interview, which happened last week.

During that interview, Barrineau noticed several changes in Robinson’s story of events from the night the child died, he said.

“I interviewed her again Friday (July 19) and her story changed totally,” Barrineau said. “I stopped the interview and asked her to take a polygraph test. She agreed and failed (the test).”

A polygraph test was administered Tuesday morning by a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Barrineau said. During a subsequent interview, Robinson confessed to killing the child.

Dyersburg Police Chief Thomas Langford said he is proud of the dedication and work performed by Barrineau in solving this case.

“He did a great job in this case,” he said of the detective. “These are very difficult cases to work. He followed up instead of taking things at face value and used good intuitive skills in solving this horrible crime. I can’t say enough how well he did and how proud I am that he is one of our detectives.”

The case began at about 12:30 p.m. on May 20, 2023, when officers received a call of a dead child at 616 Isaac Hayes Drive in Dyersburg, according to the report. Officers arrived to find emergency medical personnel on the scene and the child deceased.