Heidi Cobler (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A woman caught on video striking a three-year-old developmentally disabled child on the head with her hand shortly after spanking the child appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Thirty-year-old Heidi Elizabeth Cobler, who lists several addresses, including along U.S. Highway 62 East and in Bull Shoals, continued to push her request to modify the no contact order that keeps her away from the child to allow some type of interaction.
Circuit Judge John Putman again refused to modify the order on Monday, but told Cobler’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender James Wallace, to investigate the situation.
Wallace has reported to the court there is an active Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) case against Cobler and he would need to check to see if there were any objections from the agency to the no contact order modification.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a DCFS investigator sent two videos to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office asking an investigator to view the videos and contact the DCFS worker.
A social services case had just been completed on evidence captured on the two videos.
The investigators who viewed the video said, “the strike to the child’s head is notable due to the loud report it caused and the child’s screaming in apparent pain.”
Cobler was identified as the child’s stepmother and investigators learned the victim was developmentally disabled to the point the child could only use about three words.
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