Boys testify to life on road, neglect that led to death of ‘Baby Beth’

Wednesday’s testimony in the trial of a father accused of, along with his wife, allowing their 3-year-old daughter to die from an untreated 17-pound tumor in January 2019 was marked by recollections from two of the couple’s sons.

In Comanche County District Judge Jay Walker’s courtroom, Henry Clarence Lilly III, 54, is on trial for a count of first-degree manslaughter. The crime is punishable by between four years to life in prison. His wife, Bonnie Beth Mills-Lilly, 46, is also charged with the same crime and scheduled for the upcoming April/May jury trial docket.

The two are accused of failing to provide medical care to their daughter, which led to her death, according to the charges.

According to the State Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, the child, Bonnie Beth Lilly, died Jan. 3, 2019, as a result of rhabdomyosarcoma. Her manner of death was identified as natural. The report states the 17-pound tumor comprised half the girl’s body weight and she was undernourished.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare type of cancer of soft tissue (such as muscle), connective tissue (such as tendon or cartilage), or bone that effects between 250 to 350 people a year worldwide. Symptoms include: a persistent lump or swelling in parts of the body; bulging of the eye or a swollen eyelid, headache and nausea, trouble urinating or having bowel movements, blood in the urine, and bleeding from the nose, throat, vagina or rectum.

Now 19, Henry “Buddy” Lilly testified that most of the time, he, his five brothers and sisters and parents were traveling across the country in a “cramped” RV for about two years.

Henry Lilly III worked as a computer engineer for Comcast. He worked in a back “office” room in the vehicle for eight hours a day while the mother and children stayed in the front portion of the vehicle, according to Buddy.

William Lilly, now 14, testified they didn’t live a “normal” life. He said he was used to eating no more than once a day during that time. His brother, Buddy, said after their mother went into an “asylum” in 2016, she was basically in a “vegetative state.” It was up to him and sister, Esther, to watch out for the younger siblings. The father was rarely part of it.

“For lack of a better word, he was somewhat absent,” he said, adding Henry Lilly III was “devoted” to work, travel and sleep when he could. The mother had returned from the asylum with a blank look in her eyes, he said, and spent a lot of time alone in the bedroom: “She was just not ‘there.’”

When the family would arrive at an RV park, usually to stay no more than a week, their mother wouldn’t allow them to go outside often, Buddy said. The kids weren’t in school and most of their education and entertainment came through tablets and sporadic online courses.

“Playing outside was a rare occurrence,” he said. “We were always moving, we didn’t get much time outside the bus.”

Comanche County Sheriff’s Detective Chad Kenyon testified that when he first found the children, they were excessively pale.

The mother had begun hoarding Ramen noodles and snacks before the family had begun RV life. That hoard would serve as the majority of the children’s meager diets, according to Buddy. Sometimes, he said, their father would take them out for takeout food.

Until being removed from the family, William testified he didn’t realize “what normal life was like”.

Buddy and William each testified their young sister, “Baby Beth” had been an active, happy child with curly hair who was learning to speak. Then, she became ill. First, she couldn’t use the bathroom.

The family believed it was because she’d gotten into a large bag of Gummi Bears and eaten them. It wasn’t long before her stomach swelled up; William said it was like “an inflated beach ball.” It impeded her ability to walk. The young brother said “Baby Beth” was always in pain but couldn’t express it. Her face said it all, he said.

“The look on her was like she was tortured all the time,” he said.

The brothers both testified “Baby Beth” had been sick anywhere between six months to a year. Their mother didn’t like doctors and would seek out alternative medicines, Buddy testified. There was one point where the parents took her to a pediatric clinic. He remembered the father wanting to heed the doctor’s advice to take her to a pediatric hospital but the mother wouldn’t allow it, he said.

Instead, when “Baby Beth” was having issues with bowel movements, the mother began enema therapy, sometimes more than once a day, Buddy said. If that didn’t work, she would rub olive oil mixed with herbs on the girl’s stomach.

On the day she died, “Baby Beth” was in a diaper under blankets in a stroller. At one point, Buddy said, her lips turned blue and the mother put her on the bed to allow her more room to move and circulate her blood; the father was in his office. Then her breathing became difficult. Buddy said he called 911 but hung up when his mother told him to and she began using oil, herbs and even cayenne pepper on the girl.

The mother began chest compressions and, Buddy said, finally, the father emerged to see what was going on. William said “Baby Beth” stopped breathing and the parents panicked. It still took a few minutes before the father called 911. Buddy testified her skin was so tight over her belly she had opened up lesions from the skin’s thinness.

Buddy said it took about 20 minutes for EMTs to arrive at the family’s campsite at Pinnacle Peak RV Park across from Lake Lawtonka.

Emergency room Dr. David Darrigan testified earlier in the day that “Baby Beth” wasn’t breathing when she arrived. He said Henry Lilly III didn’t mention that it was suspected she had cancer. While there may have been other factors, he believes the cancer was the core reason the little girl died.

“It was a huge tumor in the belly that started all this,” he said.

Darrigan said the parents should have taken “Baby Beth” in for diagnosis after that earlier visit to a pediatrician. He called it “pure neglect” on the parents’ part. When confronted with a statement he’d made about not respecting Henry Lilly III, the doctor confirmed it.

“I don’t respect him,” he said. “Yeah, I’m human; I’m a doctor, I had to pronounce that child dead.”