Delcamp weeps as jury sees graphic photos of Arabella Parker's injuries at trial

May 11—SUNBURY — A Northumberland County jury heard testimony Tuesday from an expert pediatrician and saw graphic photographs of bruises on 3-year-old Arabella Parker as the child's mother wept on the first day of her trial on charges of accomplice to murder.

Samantha Delcamp, 26, of Trevorton, maintained her innocence in the child's 2019 murder during the proceeding. Delcamp claims she is the victim of domestic abuse after suffering several beatings and emotional abuse from her then-boyfriend Jahrid Burgess, 21, of Trevorton.

Delcamp sat with her attorney Michael O'Donnell, and took notes and cried throughout most of the testimony from nine people Tuesday.

"She (Arabella Parker)" was beaten to death, Dr. Paul Bellino, a pediatrician at Geisinger Medical Center, in Danville, testified Tuesday. "She arrived at the hospital in a terrible state."

State police say the child was beaten so badly that part of her brain was removed after an October 2019 incident in Delcamp and Burgess' Trevorton home.

Burgess was found guilty of third-degree murder in November and testified on his own behalf by admitting to the beating and blaming Delcamp for her part in Arabella's death. Delcamp said she was a beaten woman who feared for her life and could not leave Burgess.

Delcamp said Burgess would hit her and Arabella, pour soda on them, and make them march down a hallway if they didn't obey his orders.

Bellino testified the child's injuries were not made known to medical staff during emergency transport to Geisinger but if doctors were told the truth about the abuse Arabella suffered prior to arriving at the hospital, her chance for survival would have been greater.

Arresting state trooper Brian Siebert said Delcamp knew about the abuse and never reported it.

O'Donnell cross-examined Siebert and said his client tried to stop Burgess and begged him to call 911 after the incident took place.

O'Donnell asked Siebert what Delcamp was supposed to do when she didn't have a phone. Delcamp claimed Burgess took her cellphone.

Siebert said Delcamp could have left the home and gone to neighbors and called police or 911.

Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Matulewicz continued to call various troopers and doctors to testify about what they did during their investigations and encounters with Delcamp.

Siebert said Delcamp changed her story on various occasions and told police Arabella had a seizure. Bellino said with that information Geisinger Medical Center was not on high alert. He said once the medical team discovered the severity of the injuries, they raced to put a trauma team together.

Delcamp wept while Bellino spoke.

O'Donnell asked Bellino, who testified Arabella had injuries that would have kept the child in pain and caused limited movement ability, why Northumberland County Children and Youth officials made a report and testified that Arabella was in good condition on the day of the incident.

Two children and youth employees previously testified Arabella was never checked for marks, and that the child had no visible limitations.

The second Children and Youth employee previously testified and said she reviewed reports by a caseworker and that claims of abuse were "unfounded."

O'Donnell asked Bellino if he also ever reviewed any medical reports on Arabella, to which Bellino said he didn't other than one incident where the child was seen. Bellino said if there were no other reports made he would not have been able to review any documents.

Matulewicz said during opening statements he will prove without a doubt that Delcamp knew about the abuse, had the chance to report it, and once the final strikes were delivered to Arabella, she lied to police and doctors, which cost her child her life.

"She (Delcamp) had primary care, control and custody of the child and she did nothing to prevent it," Matulewicz said.

"They (Delcamp and Burgess) didn't want to take this child to the hospital because they knew there was bruising," he said. "She (Delcamp) aided in the murder of her child."

President Judge Charles Saylor is presiding over the trial, which will resume 9:15 a.m., Wednesday.