Baby who was trapped under dad's dead body recovering

PLEASANT HILL, La. — An infant who was trapped underneath her dead father's body possibly for three days has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery.

Betty Jean Kelly, 11 months, was flown to University Health in Shreveport Friday night after authorities discovered her body trapped under Jason Fields' body. Deputy Coroner Ron Rivers said 43-year-old Fields, who had chronic health problems, appeared to have died suddenly and fell backward from a seated position at the edge of a bed and onto his daughter.

The girl is still experiencing some swelling but otherwise is "back to her normal self," said aunt Kristy Fields.

"It's one of those unsuspecting things," she said of the tragedy of her brother's death coupled with the joy that her niece is going to recover.

The child experienced some skin blisters and had a dark indentation on her face from being compressed against the wall. Kristy Fields said the blisters are healing and the mark on her face was a bruise that is already going away.

Rivers estimated Jason Fields had been dead up to three days because of the advanced stage of decomposition of his body.

Rivers said he talked to several family members and received conflicting information as to when Jason Fields was last seen.

Kristy Fields said, however, she last talked with her brother Thursday around 6:30 p.m. He visited her home in Pleasant Hill.

Rivers said the exact time of death is not a major factor since Jason Fields' health problems were well-documented. Still, no autopsy was ordered because of the decomposition.

Fields suffered from congestive heart failure and had a stroke at age 38. "He's been downhill since then," Kristy Fields said.

Betty Jean's older brother, 3-year-old Jeremiah Kelly, is credited with alerting a neighbor that something was wrong with his father. He went next door and told them he thought his father was dead.

The children's mother was freed from jail over the weekend so she could be with them. But she returned Monday to finish out her sentence, which will end Friday.

Until she is able to care for the children, Kristy Fields will have custody. A funeral service for Jason Fields is scheduled for Saturday.