Mom Charged With Baby's Death
Repo...@uni.com
Mom Charged With Baby's Death
May 13, 1999
Reuters
(IDAHO FALLS) -- A 31-year-old Idaho Falls woman has been accused of
killing
her adopted 19-month-old son. Paulette Welch is charged with causing
severe
head injuries, which led to the death of little Stockton Welch. The
toddler
died in an Idaho Falls hospital May first. Police say they found no
evidence to
support the mother's claim that the baby's injuries were caused by an
accident.
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The following appears courtesy of the 5/13/99 online edition of The
Idaho
Falls Post Register newspaper:
05/13/99
Friends rally to support mom accused of murder
By Teri Anderson
The day after an Idaho Falls housewife was charged with murdering her
19-month-old son, neighbors and friends rallied to support her.
Paulette Martha Welch's friends wore satin pink ribbons and hung them on
lights, fence posts and trees along the Shady Glen cul-de-sac she lives
on,
just off Sunnyside Road. They also began planning garage sales and a
defense
fund to raise money for Welch's legal fees. She is charged with
first-degree
murder, for which she could be sentenced to up to life in prison if
convicted.
Welch, 31, is free on $100,000 bond.
Several friends and neighbors say they think Welch has been wrongly
accused in
the May 1 death of her son, Stockton. Among them is Sandra Harker, who
said
she's known Welch for six years.
"There's no question in my mind, she would not do this," she said.
Prosecutors say Welch's son died of shaken baby syndrome, which causes
traumatic brain injuries.
An Idaho Falls Police detective testified at a hearing Tuesday that
Welch told
a hospital doctor the boy had fallen off a chair. When detectives
searched her
home, they found no evidence supporting her claim, Detective Brad Landes
testified.
Idaho Falls Police are still investigating the boy's death and have
released no
further details.
Nancy Tibbitts described Welch as a friend who loves her children more
than
anything.
Welch, who also is the adoptive mother of a 4-year-old girl, kept a
journal of
Stockton's life and everything he accomplished, Tibbitts said. She also
teaches
religion classes to more than 100 children from her LDS church ward
every week,
she said.
"These kids have been devastated by it," said another friend, Cheryl
Anderson.
Welch had just recently begun taking the little boy to the Children's
Development Center to help him improve his communication skills,
Anderson said.
"He was a very good child," she said.
Anderson questions the case against Welch. "This is not an exact
science," she
said of prosecutors' contentions that the boy died of shaken baby
syndrome.
Prosecutor Kipp Manwaring declined to talk about the Welch case, but
said cases
involving children are some of the toughest to prosecute. There are
often
people who question the validity of charges against the suspects.
He said there is sufficient evidence for the case against Welch.
A preliminary hearing to determine whether there's enough evidence for
Welch to
stand trial on the charge is set for May 24 at 1:30 p.m.