Woman Indicted In Baby Death

A Forsyth County woman was indicted Monday on charges she murdered her adopted toddler last April.

Jill Ellen Depaillat, 44, was indicted by a Forsyth County grand jury on charges of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated battery, District Attorney Penny Penn said.

Depaillat, of Llangollen Way in south Forsyth, is accused of fatally injuring her 22-month-old daughter Mia on April 16. The girl, whom Depaillat reportedly adopted from China, died in a hospital two days later.

According to investigators, Depaillat told investigators that the baby fell down a flight of stairs after she accidentally dropped her. But doctors found injuries that were inconsistent with a fall, Forsyth sheriff's officials said.

Depaillat was arrested some six months after the child's death when investigators received an autopsy report from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation which further contradicted the mother's story, authorities said.

She was booked into the Forsyth County jail on Oct. 12 and posted a $50,000 cash bond a day later.

It was not known whether Depaillat has retained an attorney. She does not have a listed phone number.