Update on Trial of Mom Who Left Baby in Car
Maggie
the car. From the Des Moines Register:
Engholm relives tragedy
By APRIL GOODWIN
12/05/2001
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adel, Ia. - Kari Engholm cupped her hands around her eyes, pressed her face
against the tinted van window and peeked at Clare. The 8-month-old's head was
turned the other way, so Engholm couldn't tell whether her daughter was
sleeping or awake.
That glance about 7:45 a.m. June 26 was the last time she would see her baby
girl alive.
Engholm hopped in the driver's seat and said something to Clare - she can't
remember what.
She pulled out of the Perry child-care center's parking lot onto 18th Street
and turned right on Iowa Street, which led to Clare's baby sitter's house. It
also was the street she always took on her way to work at Dallas County
Hospital after dropping off 3-year-old son Eric at child care.
Somewhere in the 12-block stretch between the center and the hospital, Engholm
and her psychiatrist testified Tuesday, her mind went on autopilot and her body
acted as if she were going to work. Engholm, the hospital's chief executive
officer, parked in front of a light pole and walked up the hill to the
hospital, leaving Clare buckled into her rear-facing car seat with the doors
locked and the windows rolled up.
Clare died there, strapped into the seat behind the driver's seat, as
temperatures neared 90 degrees.
Engholm, who is charged with felony neglect of a dependent and involuntary
manslaughter in her baby's death, said on the witness stand that she "didn't
have a conscious thought" about Clare as she shut the van door and walked into
the hospital.
Engholm said an elderly woman even asked about Clare later that day, and it
never occurred to Engholm that her baby was not safe, that Clare was not at the
baby sitter's. Engholm testified that she told the woman that Clare was
"growing so fast" and said she would bring the child to their next meeting.
Engholm's day was a blur of meetings, but what she said she was most stressed
about that day was a man who had threatened nurses two days before.
Engholm testified that the son of a patient who died in the hospital had been
harassing staff. Perry police Chief Dan Brickner told her, after doing a
background check, that the man was potentially dangerous. Engholm had arranged
for staff to direct the man to her if he returned, and Brickner agreed to send
officers to wait behind the door in an adjoining room. The man did not return.
When Engholm got off work, she had a horrible headache and some letters she
needed to mail. She drove to the post office, hoping to get the hospital's mail
sent that day. Then she drove back across town to pick up Eric.
Engholm said she liked to pick up Eric first because his care center is more
strict about hours than Clare's sitter, Sherre Edmondson. She said she liked to
visit with Edmondson about Clare's day.
When she left the center with Eric and opened the van door, she saw Clare, who
authorities say had been dead for hours.
Engholm broke down sobbing after recalling the scene Tuesday, and Dallas County
District Judge Paul Huscher called a recess. Many of Engholm's friends and
relatives in the courtroom cried and hugged. Engholm's attorney, Ron Wheeler,
also wiped tears from his eyes.
Engholm's psychiatrist testified earlier that people frequently have lapses, as
Engholm did June 26, but few end in such tragedy.
"It's not forgetting," said psychiatrist Kathryn Credue, who has treated
Engholm since July 6. "It's much different than that."
Credue said what happened to Engholm is "what allows us to do more than one
thing at a time" and is called dissociation.
Credue said generally a cue triggers people to remember whatever they have
overlooked - whether it be groceries or a purse - but no clues reminded Engholm
to save Clare. She had left a diaper bag at home, on the garage floor.
Dallas County Attorney Wayne Reisetter asked Credue whether people can choose
to remember only things that support what they want to believe, and whether
they can suppress memories of painful details. Credue said they could.
"Things that are truly important get remembered," Reisetter said.
"We hope we do," Credue said, "but in times of stress, sometimes we don't."
Huscher will decide the case, which wrapped up Tuesday. Huscher said he did not
know when he would give his verdict. Engholm could face 12 years in jail if
convicted of both charges.
Charges
NEGLECT OF A DEPENDENT PERSON: A Class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years
in prison. To secure a conviction on this charge, a prosecutor must prove a
person either a) knowingly or recklessly exposed a child to a hazard or danger
from which the child could not protect himself or herself, or b) deserted or
abandoned a child, knowing or having reason to believe the child would be in
danger.
INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER: An aggravated misdemeanor, punishable by up to two
years in prison. To secure a conviction on this charge, a prosecutor must prove
a person unintentionally caused the death of anoth
Maggie
"No one said free speech means that you can say whatever you want and everybody
will still love you for it." -- Sacha Zimmerman
Andrea Bostrom
our hectic, harried, and frantic lifestyles.
Andrea
tiny dancer
"Andrea Bostrom" <lexl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011205151330...@mb-cc.aol.com...
Me too! I'm so glad I never had to work and leave my children. I loved
being home with them, I know some have to do it, but I'm just glad I didn't.
tiny dancer
crosem
care of their children as a sufficiently high priority. We have certainly
had examples of this in the last few months...woman who left baby with
stranger at bus stop/baby murdered...woman who ran inside "just for a second
to get a soda" and came outside (after leaving keys in car and doors
unlocked) to find a thief driving off. She tried to pull her son out of the
car, but he died as a result of being dragged along the rode for some
distance. I think there was another case recently whose details I forget,
but it was the old "I left the keys in the car and the doors unlocked"
routine.
Basically the defense here is "I forgot" with a psychiatrist to fancy it all
up.
Are there other instances of the mother person being "dissassociatve" or is
it just this one time? The mother began going to this psychiatrist AFTER the
child's death, so there is no way the psychiatrist can comment on the
mother's personality, etc., since she didn't know her before the incident.
Hired gun to obscure the simple fact...the mother "forgot" about her baby.
Some people's lives are as complicated and stressful as they let them
become...although, unlike this high paid executive, some are in a very sad
situation due to lack of support, financial and emotional, bt the fathers of
their children...
I'd be interested to know what time she was picking up the
children...certainly darn close to closing time at the boy's nursery center,
as she went there first to avoid missing the deadlines...I'd like to figure
out how many hours/day the mother works.
Extra sad for the tiny child, as it was so avoidable..."I forgot" doesn't go
for the death of a child...it was negligence of the cruelest kind...
"tiny dancer" <tinyda...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:dCvP7.144537$HA6.23...@typhoon.southeast.rr.com...
Angie (cucci)
why the baby didn't show up that day.
Angie
Andrea Bostrom <lexl...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011205151330...@mb-cc.aol.com...
tada...@gmail.com
I was shocked when I found this out and even more shocked when I reflected back to what she told me during my exit interview. She literally told me that I needed to put my work first and to make sure my children were taken care of before the start of my day and possibly I needed to make sure everything was taken care of the night before (I always did this.) I was let go because I was late to work 3 times and had to take time off because my youngest son suffers from Asthma and has a chronic lung condition. At the time she became my supervisor, my son was having a very bad time. He was only 8 years old at the time. She then told me that maybe I needed to find employment closer to my home so the driving would not be a burden to me. A burden I said? I have been driving that commute for over 10 years it was n't a burden at all and quite frankly my kids come first and always will come first that is the way I am, I said. Her face became flushed and red and that is when I was let go by her. Then a few months later I found out about her daughter. I am still so upset with her comment about day care and that work needed to come first. I didn't have my children in daycare, I was so fortunate enough to have my Mother take care of my kids while I had to work.
From the day I found out about her daughter, I will never forgive her for saying that after finding out she left her daughter to bake to death in her own car. Why didn't she take her own advice and make sure her children were taken care of the night before. I would of had the up most sympathy for her had she not said the comment about work coming first. Obviously her work has always come before her family.
