Troy, Alabama (WDNews) — A Pike County woman who admitted to manslaughter in the March 2023 death of her full-term baby boy was given a 15-year jail sentence.
On August 5, 2025, Chelsey Redmon-Zellers stood before Judge Sonny Reagan in Pike County Circuit Court and pled guilty. District Attorney James Tarbox, who prosecuted the case, stated that the agreement demonstrated the gravity of the situation.
Redmon-Zellers was moved from Troy Regional Medical Center to Medical Center Enterprise, where the baby boy was born stillborn, according to the State. The Enterprise Police Department and the Coffee County Coroner’s Office opened an inquiry after medical personnel concluded there was no fetal heartbeat.
The newborn had methamphetamine, amphetamine, and fentanyl in his system, with amounts of fentanyl deemed potentially fatal, according to toxicology reports from the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
Since Redmon-Zellers lived in Pike County and the baby’s death most likely happened there, the investigation was later moved to the Pike County Sheriff’s Office. According to the authorities, the defendant had previously received instructions to abstain from illegal narcotics while pregnant, but she disregarded it.
District Attorney Tarbox described the situation as unfortunate and explained the rationale for the plea agreement:
It was challenging for everyone engaged to work on this unfortunate situation. It is devastating to see the death of a child who ought to have been born and given a chance at life. In addition to reviewing the facts and supporting documentation, our firm also spoke with the medical professionals who would have been required to testify in a trial of this kind. During our conversations, it became evident that if this case had gone to trial, there was a chance of just receiving a Class C felony conviction, but that a Class A felony conviction was still feasible. In order to resolve this case, I decided to offer a Class B felony. The defendant pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge, which is still a very serious one. It shows how carelessly she continued to use meth and fentanyl, showing little respect for the human life developing inside of her.
Redmon-Zellers received a sentence that included 15 years in the Alabama Department of Corrections’ custody.
The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, the Enterprise Police Department, the Coffee County Coroner’s Office, the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, and the personnel at Troy Regional Hospital and Medical Center Enterprise were all thanked by the District Attorney’s Office for their contributions to the case.
