Jessica Arrendale Hides Baby Girl in Toilet, Saving Her Life: 'She Had Pure Will,' Mother Says
Jessica Arrendale is being hailed as a hero after giving her life to save her six-month-old daughter last week.
Arrendale, 37, returned home from a night out with the father of her daughter, Antoine Davis, when he became "belligerently drunk and abusive." At some point in the evening, Davis chased Arrendale up the stairs of her townhome in Smyrna, Georgia. Arrendale attempted to use a baseball bat to defend herself and her daughter, whom she was holding, but she was easily overcome by the former Marine, who hit her with the same bat. The baby was also possibly struck, as she is in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury.
The single mother managed to lock herself and daughter Colbie in the bathroom, but Davis used an assault rifle to burst through the door and shoot Arrendale in the head. She was still holding Colbie at the time she was shot and somehow managed to fall in such a way as to drop Colbie in the toilet and cover her with her body.
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"He shot her and (the police) don't know how she was able to twist her body and fall literally in the opposite direction," Teresa Ionniello, Arrendale's mother, told WSB. "She had pure will. She wanted that baby to live. She was the hero because her last breath was saving the child."
Davis left the bathroom and took his own life. Once officers arrived on the scene, they proceeded with extreme caution, not knowing what to expect inside the home. Colbie was found in the toilet 13 hours later. She is currently being treated at Children's Health Care of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Hospital. Her grandmother hopes to bring her home soon and reunite her with her 15-year-old sister.
Family and friends have set up a fund to help cover the expense of Arrendale's funeral and provide for the two children left behind. In just six days, people from across the country have raised over $20,000.
