Willis guilty on all charges in Arabella Parker case

Francis Scarcella, The Daily Item, Sunbury, Pa.
·1 min read

Apr. 15—SUNBURY — It took a Northumberland County jury less than an hour to find a Sunbury woman guilty of lying to authorities about her knowledge in the death of 3-year-old Arabella Parker.

Christy Willis, 51, of Sunbury, was found guilty of providing false and misleading statements to state police about Arabella, who state troopers say was beaten to death in October 2019 by Jahrid Burgess, 20, of Trevorton. Arabella died Nov. 22, 2019, after spending 44 days at Geisinger Medical Center, in Danville.

Willis is Burgess's mother.

The jury got the case just before 10 a.m. A verdict came in around 10:30 a.m.

Troopers say Willis told various stories to law enforcement about the events leading up to the death of Arabella.

During the first day of the trial on Wednesday, a medical expert said Arabella's injuries were not made known to medical staff when the child was being taken to Geisinger Medical Center.

Had those experts been told the truth about the abuse Arabella suffered prior to arriving at the hospital, her chance for survival would have been greater, Dr. Paul Bellino, of Geisinger, testified.

Arabella suffered several severe beatings which led to at least 46 injuries and a surgical procedure to remove part of her brain, according to Bellino.

This is a developing story. More details will be published when they become available.

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