Minnesota woman charged for death of boy she was planning to adopt
A 35-year-old Minnesota woman has been charged with second-degree murder, with intent, in connection to the death of a boy she was planning to adopt, according to court documents.
A criminal complaint states that Kellie Jo Anderson, of Barnesville, arrived at Sanford Emergency Department in Fargo on April 23. With her was a child of an unidentified age who is described in the complaint as being "blue and lifeless with bruising to the face and head."
A doctor found the child had a body core temperature of 82 degrees when they arrived, along with and fixed, dilated pupils that don't normally occur until 10 minutes after death. The doctor also noted that to reach a body core temp of 82, the child had likely been dead for around 40 minutes.
Anderson told a detective that the boy woke up that morning with a 99.8-degree fever, so she kept him home from daycare. She said the child "self injures" himself and that he "threw himself several times from the bath to the toilet" that day, which is where she believed he injured his mouth.
Anderson, who is a nurse, according to the criminal complaint, also said she thought the boy had a seizure, prompting her to drive him to the emergency room. She placed the child in a car seat and said he was "babbling" with labored breathing during the drive.
A couple of blocks from the hospital, Anderson pulled over because the child stopped "babbling" and she could not find a pulse. She was about to begin CPR, she said, until she noticed a faint pulse, so she got back in the vehicle and drove to the ER.
Anderson's husband, who was at work at the time, said the child has no history seizures or injuring himself and that there were no marks or injuries to the child when he bathed him around 8 p.m. the night before.
According to the complaint, Anderson admitted that she and her husband were reconsidering their summer adoption plans. Additionally, no baby monitors were found in the house despite Anderson saying she used monitors to keep an eye on the child.
An autopsy conducted by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office revealed that the child had injuries to his head, face, arms, legs, chest, back, hand, foot and penis, in addition to internal injuries. A preliminary cause of death has been ruled homicide by probable asphyxia and blunt force trauma.
If convicted, Anderson faces up to 40 years in prison.
