A Whitfield County, Ga., grand jury dismissed cruelty to children charges against Tiffany Dianne Gibson upon a recommendation from a prosecutor and after hearing the evidence in the case.
The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office arrested 27-year-old Gibson on Jan. 25 after she found her 20-month-old son dead in his crib. Investigators believed the baby was malnourished and thought the conditions of the home showed that Gibson did not care for her child. The crib was stained with urine and feces, and investigators found dog excrement throughout the house.
But a Georgia Bureau of Investigation autopsy report showed the boy died of Neisseria meningitidis, a bacterial meningitis that leads to rapid adrenal gland failure. The baby could have died hours after catching a fever
According to a news release from Conasauga Judicial Circuit District Attorney Bert Poston, the baby probably received the disease from a carrier who kissed him, coughed on him him or sneezed on him. Neisseria meningitidis has a 50 percent mortality rate.
Poston said that medical records showed Gibson routinely brought the baby to the doctor before his death.