A Sad Story
This story is a true story but the names will be changed as this one hit close to home and those that I'll write about still live somewhat nearby. It's a story where there is no happy ending, no redeeming value, a story of despair and hopeless lives.
Growing up in Perry Hall we had allot going for us. The area was still undeveloped and my group of friends had a wonderful couple of teenage years. There was a group of 15 or so who to this day have remained friends. We for a while had what we called the "fort". This was a 3 story structure that we build in the woods that had a working fireplace, lights powered by car batteries and a Formica outside bar courtesy of my parents redoing their kitchen. We drank quite a bit of beer back there and had parties frequently. One of the neighborhood girls who occasionally visited the fort was "Karen". She and her sister were friends with some of my buddies and I drank some beer with them from time to time at various parties and at the apartment complex where they lived. I'm guessing that 1975 or 1976 was the last time I had seen Karen.
February 12, 1991 I was working the Homicide unit and received a call of a possible homicide. The victim was at the G.B.M.C. emergency room. I met with the attending physician who led me to the victim and described what happened. The victim was a 7 week old female with visible contusions and abrasions on her face and head. The doctor stated that an adult male ran into the emergency room carrying the baby and shouting, "somebody help me, my baby is not breathing". The man was crying and smelled of alcohol. The baby was pronounced dead basically upon arrival. The victim had dilated and fixed pupils and no heart rate. The man cried, "I lost my baby girl".
I requested Dr. Frank Peretti of the State Medical Examiner's Office to respond and examine the victim. We had a good relationship with Dr. Peretti. It is not normal procedure for the M.E. to respond to a scene but Dr. Peretti offered to do so at any time. I guess a man who hunts rattlesnakes and calls that vacation, is not normal anyway.
Dr. Peretti examined the victim and found that her skull was fractured in many locations. He had me feel the skull myself to demonstrate how the fractures feel. He also noted that the baby exhibited visual symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. These symptoms are an elf like appearance of the eyes and ears. This is a result of heavy drinking of the mother while carrying the child. Having this information immediately at hand instead of waiting for the formal autopsy the next morning helped us quite a bit.
I went and met with the adult male who brought the victim in and began an informal interview.
The man identified himself as "Tim" and that the victim was his daughter "Amy". Amy was born the previous Christmas day. Tim also has a 2 year old son who was home with the mother. They all live together on Magledt Rd. in the Carney section of Baltimore county. They live in an upstairs apartment of a two story home. Tim described that he and his wife were home drinking a few beers and that his wife went to check on the baby and found her unresponsive. Tim immediately scooped up Amy wrapped her in a blanket and drove his pick up truck. Asked why he would drive her the whole way to Towson while she was not breathing and Tim said, "well I was going 100 mph". Tim had no explanation for Amy's injuries. While talking about his family Tim pulled a photograph from his wallet and said that it was his wife, Karen. I immediately recognized Karen as my old teenage friend.
We responded to the home and began the investigation. Prior to my arrival the precinct officers had taken custody of the 2 year old child and turned him over to social services. Karen was picked up by Tim's parents. The apartment was a real mess. It was filthy with trash, dirty clothes strewn about and cluttered with junk. A bottle of Absolut vodka was in the freezer and beer in the fridge. No evidence was found.
The following day we attended the autopsy of Amy. Dr. Peretti conducted the autopsy and found that all 4 sides of Amy's skull was fractured. There were also fresh contusions on her ankles and head. One of the bruises above Amy's right eye was approx. 1 week old.
Dr. Peretti described that his belief was that Amy was held by her ankles and repeatedly swung head first into a wall or similar object.
At approx. 11:00am that same morning a hearing was held at the county courts building to decide temporary custody of the 2 year old child. This child also had signs of bruising which appeared to be abusive. He was placed with the grandparents. Both Tim and Karen had hired attorney's and refused to be interviewed any further.
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That evening I went to the apartment to interview the occupant of the 1st floor apartment. This was a single female named "Angie". She advised that she knew the couple for awhile now and that she thought Karen was a little jealous of her. Tim had flirted with Angie before and Karen may have sensed it. She said that both Tim and Karen drank heavily and Karen drank while pregnant. They would argue from time to time but Amy never saw any physical altercations. On the evening of the murder Amy said that she was talking to Tim in the stairwell which led to his apartment. After about 5 minutes she heard a door slam upstairs. Tim said that he better get going before Karen got too mad. Amy heard some loud yelling from the apartment and some heavy footsteps. After approx. 20 minutes she saw Tim come downstairs with the baby and drive off.
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I later spoke with other family members among them Karen's sister Cathy who I also knew. The story emerged of two alcoholics that would drink together and argue together. It was believed that Tim had struck Karen in the past but this wasn't verified. Both were known to take the kids with them to bars.
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It couldn't be determined as of yet who actually killed Amy. We obtained arrest warrants for both Tim and Karen and charged them both with 1st degree murder.
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I responded with a female detective to the home of Karen's parents and took her into custody. This was the 1st time in about 15 years since I had seen her. As we were driving back to the office for processing of the warrant she began to ask how I was and how many of our mutual past friends were doing. This kind of freaked me out. She is in custody for killing her 7 week old baby girl and all she talked about was our teenage years.
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After they were charged and met with their attorneys the following was worked out. Karen agreed to plead guilty to 2nd degree murder and charges were dropped against Tim.
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The trial took place on October 15, 1991. Assistant states attorney Scott Shellenberger prosecuted the case before Judge William Hinkle.
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Karen testified that earlier in the day they had received a mortgage approval for a house they had a bid on. She was excited and drank pretty heavily before Tim got home to celebrate. When she caught Tim talking to Amy she got jealous. She was pretty intoxicated at this point and became so enraged that she took it out on the baby. As Dr. Peretti surmised, she picked Amy up by the ankles and smashed her against the wall. She placed her back in the crib, waited a few minutes and "checked" on her. When she was found not breathing she told Tim something was wrong.
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Karen was sentenced to 12 years in prison for 2nd degree murder.
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Sadly, on November 10, 1992 Judge Thomas Brennan heard a motion for reduction of sentence and granted the motion to "time served".
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After killing her 7 week old baby Karen served only 13 months in prison.
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The lives of Tim and Karen haven't gotten much better. Tim has been arrested for assaulting a police officer and both he and Karen have filed bankruptcy and were divorced in 2004. Karen has since been arrested for a Driving While Intoxicated. She received probation.
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