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Unamused Cat

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Jessica R. Walters

PORTAGE | A 20-year-old Portage woman is accused in the death of her 15-month-old son, who suffered internal injuries and bleeding.

Jessica R. Walters, of 2395 Sloan St., turned herself into Portage police Wednesday on preliminary charges of neglect of a dependent in the death of her son, Timothy D. Walters.

Police responded to her home at 5:41 a.m. Sunday after a 911 call that the child was unresponsive and not breathing. Upon arrival, officers performed CPR until Portage Fire Department paramedics arrived and transported the boy to Porter Portage Hospital Campus, where he was pronounced dead at 7:24 a.m.

Portage police Sgt. Keith Hughes said Walters was interviewed several times by police. She told police her son had been ill with the flu for nearly two weeks and was taking doctor-prescribed medication. She told police the medication was difficult to give to the child so she restrained him on the couch. Police said she admitted she must have used too much restraint while holding the child down to give him his medicine.

According to police booking information, Jessica Walters is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 260 pounds.

Porter County Coroner Vicki Deppe said an autopsy performed Monday in South Bend indicated the restraint used by the mother "caused really serious internal injuries." The child's injuries were consistent with what Walters told police, Deppe said.

It was determined in the autopsy the child suffered broken ribs, several internal injuries and bleeding.

http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2008/11/26//updates/breaking_news/doc492de92e609b2817944440.txt
 
How sad. That's exactly how my daughter is. Hates taking medicine. Takes me and my hubby to get her to do it. But that's after we try to mix it with her kool-aid or her milk. Seems like it was an accident. Especially if he was anything like my daughter.
 
How sad. That's exactly how my daughter is. Hates taking medicine. Takes me and my hubby to get her to do it. But that's after we try to mix it with her kool-aid or her milk. Seems like it was an accident. Especially if he was anything like my daughter.

Yah its a hard one, especially since she told the police exactly what happened. she didnt try to hide it. She wasnt outright beating on the child or shakeing it. Not that I am condoneing what she did, just that its a tuff call for me as well.

Porter County Coroner Vicki Deppe said an autopsy performed Monday in South Bend indicated the restraint used by the mother "caused really serious internal injuries." The child's injuries were consistent with what Walters told police, Deppe said.

It was determined in the autopsy the child suffered broken ribs, several internal injuries and bleeding.

The day after the autopsy, the mother came to the Police Department for questioning, Hughes said.

"After the interviews, based on the information that she knew we were going to arrest her, she turned herself in," Hughes said.

Deppe said she is awaiting toxicology reports to determine whether the child's death should be ruled accidental or a homicide.
 
When my daughter was 12 months old she had quite severe gastro and needed a nasal feeding tube. Anyhow, we had to help the nursing staff with the placement of the tube (so wrong!!)... the nurse told my husband to hold her head straight (she was lying on her back, facv up). So held her head with all his strength because she was fighting it with all her strength, the nurse was trying to get the tube in and I was trying to calm my daughter. The nurse was distracted for a moment and was looking to the other side of the room, my husband was still forcing her head still while she turned purple and I screamed.
The nurse totally freaked and so did hubby (who by now was in tears). My daughter had choked on blood which would have been nothing if she could have turned her head to cough the blood up. It was all fine in the end but I can still (2 and half years later) see her purple head. And hubby was just following the stupid nurses directions.

The moral of my little (long) story is that who knows what this woman was told by the docter. ie you might have to hold him down to get him to take it, but he really needs to take it.
I hope its investigated thoroughly and accurately.

RIP sweet Timothy.
 
I had difficulty giving one of my kids medication. As a single mom (back then) it was only me. The doctor told me how to do it, but I almost cried every time I did. She screamed like a banshee and it looked as if she would die. I sat with my legs in a V shape. Her head was between my knees and her arms under my legs. I never knew a one year old could be so strong!
 
I had difficulty giving one of my kids medication. As a single mom (back then) it was only me. The doctor told me how to do it, but I almost cried every time I did. She screamed like a banshee and it looked as if she would die. I sat with my legs in a V shape. Her head was between my knees and her arms under my legs. I never knew a one year old could be so strong!

That's how I give my son his medicine. He's a big boy for his age now so I may go flying across the room one day lol.
 
With tears streaming down her face, and wearing green-and-white-striped prison garb, Jessica Walters pleaded guilty Friday in the death of her 15-month-old son, Timothy.

Walters, 21, of 2395 Sloan St., Portage, appeared in Judge William Alexa's court for what was supposed to be a pretrial conference. She faced Class A felony charges of neglect of a dependent and battery; each charge carried a sentence of 20 to 50 years, and fines up to $10,000.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, which is up for final approval by Alexa, Walters will plead guilty to neglect of a dependent, and the battery charge will be dropped.

Potentially, she would be sentenced to 30 years, 10 of which would be suspended. The remainder of the sentence would be served on probation. Walters also would be responsible for court costs and fees, and a $100 child abuse prevention fee.

Under questioning from Alexa, Walters said she suffers from bipolar disorder, is manic/depressive and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Speaking softly, she told the judge she is on medication for her illnesses, but they did not interfere with her ability to enter a guilty plea.
[...]

In court Friday, Walters admitted she did not tell medical professionals attending to her son that she had exerted the extreme force on him that ultimately ended his life.

Her sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. June 4 before Alexa.
http://www.post-trib.com/news/porter/2112780,pcwalters0320.article
 
That is so sad.

They make flavorings now that the pharmacist can add to liquid meds to make them taste good. I had to have a double shot added to Ana's last medicine so she would take it.
 
I had difficulty giving one of my kids medication. As a single mom (back then) it was only me. The doctor told me how to do it, but I almost cried every time I did. She screamed like a banshee and it looked as if she would die. I sat with my legs in a V shape. Her head was between my knees and her arms under my legs. I never knew a one year old could be so strong!


my son was that way too...i came up with an ingenious idea...i swaddled him in a quilt, kinda like a backwards swaddle to keep his legs and arms immobile...put one leg over his hip area to keep him from rolling and was able to hold his head with one hand and dose him with the other...i had to do that to snot sucker him most times too...it worked and he was never harmed
 
How very sad. I'm fortunate that my boys have never given me much fuss over taking med's. My little one begs me to give him some when his brother is sick and he is not. However, I can understand the frustration in giving med's to a little one who is resisting as my nephew who lived with us as a child, when I was a teenager hated meds. My sister always asked me to administer it to him as she said, "I can't do it and he's driving me crayz!". So it was hard, real hard and in the struggle. Still, this child had extensive injuries, excessive. So it seems giving meds and hurting your child in the process kind of defeats the purpose. Looks like in the struggle she simply lost it. No do overs on that.

Rest in peace baby Timothy.
 
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yeah, it does sound like she got mad at him for moving...some kids just hate medicine...it's all part of being a parent...take the good with the bad...learn from it, not get violent over it...she sucks...poor baby :sad:
 
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A woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for causing the death of her 14-month-old son in 2005.

Judge William Alexa accepted the guilty plea of Jessica R. Walters, 21, to Class A felony neglect of a dependent.

She could have served up to 50 years in prison if found guilty by a jury.

Walters also will serve 10 years on probation after prison and, under terms of her plea agreement, the state dropped a Class A felony charge of battery.

Alexa said he was surprised that Walters laughed after he commented that she had been caught trying to brew homemade liquor more than once at Porter County Jail.
[...]

When the autopsy showed the lower part of both lungs bruised, as well as his diaphragm, Walters told police she probably held him down too hard on Nov. 10 when giving him Tylenol for teething.

The autopsy also showed three broken ribs of different ages, two healed; multiple contusions and internal bleeding of the large intestine; and a tear in the membrane that holds the large intestine together -- and that the membrane separated from the abdominal wall.

Walters told police she held the boy down with her arm across his chest, elbow on his abdomen and hand under his chin when he fought taking the medicine for the gum pain.
http://www.post-trib.com/news/porter/2356308,new-walker0605.article
 
what?
he fought taking the medicine for the gum pain.
Portage police Sgt. Keith Hughes said Walters was interviewed several times by police. She told police her son had been ill with the flu for nearly two weeks and was taking doctor-prescribed medication. She told police the medication was difficult to give to the child so she restrained him on the couch.
now i wonder if any of it is true.
 
i dunno, i have never had trouble giving my kids even the vilest tasting meds. liquid tagamet tastes like battery acid and my daughter's been on and off that since infancy.

when my kids were little babies, i'd just squirt it inside their cheek. Since they have been big enough to eat solids, and able to fight me off, i just mix it with a teaspoonful of nutella. nutella is the best. it's the perfect consistency and they loooooove it.

i've had two epic episodes helping to restrain my youngest in the ER (once to get an IV in, once trying to pull a bead out of her nose), but i can't imagine a home-medication scenario that would require injurious restraints. i think the whole story is BS. ppl make up some lame shit trying to explain how they've hurt their children.
 
My daughter shoved a Polly Pocket shoe in her nose when she was 4 and it took 4 or 5 of us to hold her down at the ER. She wasn't hurt. We won't go into the home attempt to remove a splinter in her hand. We waited till she was asleep once we realized she wasn't having that. :lollypop:
 
My daughter shoved a Polly Pocket shoe in her nose when she was 4 and it took 4 or 5 of us to hold her down at the ER. She wasn't hurt. We won't go into the home attempt to remove a splinter in her hand. We waited till she was asleep once we realized she wasn't having that. :lollypop:

omg! what's the fascination they have with jamming stuff up there? it took two days, on a Labor Day weekend, with a succession of doctors, to get the bead out of my kid's nose.
 

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