Laurie & Taylor Cournoyer Charged In Toddler's Death

[Icy]

​

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - As a 2-year-old girl lay dead in the closet of a South Dakota home, another child invited two young neighbors over to take a look. The adults in the home, who were binging on drugs, didn't call 911 until some 14 hours later, police allege.

Taylor Cournoyer, 21, and Laurie Cournoyer, 29, are charged with failing to notify police of the death and five counts of child abuse related to other children who live in the home with them.

The couple is accused of using sleeping pills, methamphetamine and marijuana during the day and a half in July when the child's death still hadn't been reported.

They are the first people charged under a South Dakota law passed earlier this year that says a parent, guardian or caretaker who knowingly fails to report a child's death within six hours could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison. It was modeled after Florida's "Caylee's Law," which was passed following the high-profile death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, who wasn't reported missing until 31 days after she vanished in 2008 in Orlando.

The South Dakota couple, who were caring for the toddler but are not her parents, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to the charges at a hearing in Charles Mix County Court in Lake Andes, about 120 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.

An 11-year-old boy also has been charged, but details of his alleged involvement are not being released because he is a juvenile.

According to police affidavits, Laurie Cournoyer had a difficult time recalling recent events and the last time she had seen the toddler. At one point when questioned about the exact time, she said, "Maybe it was yesterday, I don't know." She could not recall who had placed the toddler in the closet.

When an investigator asked Taylor if the kids came in for supper on July 3, he said no. The family had "kind of roughed it this month" and "really didn't cook dinner" because most of their food was gone, he said, according to the affidavit.

An autopsy was done, but the girl's cause of death hasn't been released.

Charles Mix County prosecutor Pam Hein referred questions to the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation. A representative from the agency did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

A lawyer for Taylor Cournoyer could not be reached, while Laurie Cournoyer's lawyer, Scott Swier, said he could not comment other than to say he will "vigorously defend" his client against the charges.

Following news of the girl's death, the Wagner police chief who helped investigate the death resigned from his post after he was charged in an unrelated case with failing to report a crime. In that case, prosecutors allege Jim Chaney, 44, tried to cover up his girlfriend's methamphetamine use by hiding her used needles in his office.

Both the girl's death and Chaney's arrest show the perils methamphetamine is playing in the community, said Frances Zephier, a Wagner resident who has organized protests for what she says are lax enforcement of drug laws in the area.

"She gave her life and was tortured so our people could be free of methamphetamine and we're not going to stop. It's all to honor her," Zephier said of the toddler as her voice wavered.

Zephier, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, said drug use has been plaguing the tribe for the past 20 years. Charles Mix County encompasses all of the Yankton Indian Reservation, which is home to the Yankton Sioux Tribe.

http://www.ksfy.com/story/19346598/south-dakota-couple-charged-in-toddlers-death

 

[evervigilant]

I have a terrible suspicion the eleven year old molested and murdered her. I hope not obviously, and I'll wait to hear if any more details come out. I wonder if her parents knew the babysitters were on meth.

 

[Dakota]

July 13th article:

RieLee Lovell was dead more than a day and a half before anyone called police, according to court documents filed Thursday in Charles Mix County.

The 2-year-old’s body was discovered by law enforcement on the afternoon of July 4.

Another child in the rural Wagner home asked two neighbor girls, ages 4 and 6, to come over and look at the body in a closet.

That was 9:30 p.m. July 3, more than 14 hours before 28-year-old Laurie Cournoyer called 911 to report an unresponsive child.
[...]

On July 4, neither of them could tell detectives when they’d last seen RieLee alive. The girl was a relative, but not a daughter, of the Cournoyers.
[...]

An autopsy has been conducted, but no exact time of death has been established. The documents say the incident that took the child’s life probably occurred in the early morning hours of July 3.

In a probable cause affidavit filed with the criminal case, Division of Criminal Investigation agent Riley Cook recalled this exchange with Taylor Cournoyer on July 4:

“I asked Taylor if it was possible (RieLee) had been deceased from the late night hours of 7-2-12 or early morning hours of 7-3-12,â€￾ Cook wrote. “Taylor responded with ‘I could have swore I saw her yesterday.’ â€￾

During several interviews with law enforcement, Taylor Cournoyer said he’d been working July 3. He returned home, then went to the Dollar General in Wagner to pick up cleaning supplies with Laurie before sitting in the bedroom to work on tattoo ideas.

He told detectives that four of the six children in the home came into the bedroom and began coloring with him at one point, and that another child was “wandering around the house.â€￾ He said he thought he saw RieLee eating in the kitchen, but later said he couldn’t recall for certain.

He told detectives he’d smoked marijuana with Laurie Cournoyer that night, then shot fireworks with the kids until 3 a.m.

On July 4, he opened a closet door in the bedroom to look for something and saw RieLee’s body. He said he told Laurie, who told him to pick her up and put her in the bathroom. She called 911 shortly afterward, he said.

Other reports indicate that RieLee had been dead long before that. At 9:30 p.m. July 3, one of Laurie Cournoyer’s children, who is 6 years old, asked the neighbor girls whether they wanted to come over and “see my dead sister.â€￾

The girls reported the incident to their mother, court papers say, and they later told a Charles County deputy they’d seen RieLee in the closet.

Taylor Cournoyer explained that it had been difficult to keep track of all the children. They didn’t feed the kids because food had been short, he said, so there hadn’t been a daily tracking of their whereabouts in the days leading up to RieLee’s death.

“When asked why no one had checked on (RieLee), Taylor provided that he was gone during the day of 7-3-12 and wanted to relax when he came home from work,â€￾ the court papers say. “Taylor stated that it’s sometimes stressful at home because the kids ‘are real a**holes.’ â€￾

Laurie Cournoyer was taken into custody on outstanding warrants before Cook arrived on the scene. When she spoke with detectives after 5 p.m. July 4, she initially said that RieLee and another child were fighting as she tried to clean the house at 11:30 that morning.

She’d sent them into the bedroom as a punishment, she said. When she came in to get the toddler for a bath, she said, the girl was unresponsive. She tried to revive her, she said, then called 911.

She also said she’d taken seven prescription pills for her insomnia that morning.

After further questioning, Laurie Cournoyer said she could not recall with certainty when she’d last seen RieLee, either. She said she’d seen the child alive upon her return from the Dollar Store with Taylor Cournoyer on July 3 but couldn’t provide a time. She also admitted to taking three of the sleeping pills July 2 and seven pills July 3 before smoking marijuana with Taylor.

“Laurie consistently had a difficult time providing detailed information regarding dates and times,â€￾ the paperwork said.
[...]

For Eileen Fox, RieLee’s mother, the news of felony charges is welcome. Fox said she still is in shock over her daughter’s death.

“I want them all in jail for a really, really long time,â€￾ Fox said.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/...ghbor-children-saw-body-hours-before-911-call


RieLee Lovell

 

[MommysLosingIt]

I hate when these stories leave me with more questions than answers.

Where was her mom? It doesn't sound like they were just babysitting her for a few hours. It sounds like they had her for a period of time, either temporarily or permanently. Why would the mom leave her child there if these people already had all these other kids, and clearly had substance abuse issues? Why would they agree to take in another hungry mouth if they clearly didn't have the resources to support their existing family?

Just why?!

 

[badfish76]

The kid's mom "wants them in jail for a really, really long time," while I want to see them in Hell for eternity.

Just WTF was going on around there???

 

[Valasca]

What the hell? Why does the mother want them in jail for a really long time? SHE LEFT THE CHILD WITH THEM!

 

[Nell]

He had money for fireworks but not for food. Lovely.

 

[Morgana]

There is something seriously wrong when a 6 year old wants to show his "dead sister" rather than being torn up about it and trying to get help. Siblings fight and disagree, but chilren are genuinly innocent, don't grasp true death, and would find harm to another child traumatic unless corrupted already by adults...sad indeed.

 

[Kimberix]

what I find odd is mothers facebook has me thinking she is not very broken up about the whole thing...in fact no mention of the whole fucked up situation anywhere....I think really she just didnt care about this child of hers....maybe cause she is about to spit out another one perhaps?
I want more on why this poor little girl was there?? why?

 

[Dakota]

A man who ignored the body of a 2-year-old as she lay dead in a closet for nearly two days was sentenced to 13 years in prison Thursday on drug charges.

Taylor Cournoyer, 21, and his wife, 29-year-old Laurie Cournoyer, were caring for six children in their rural Wagner home on July 2, the day RieLee Lovell was strangled to death. Lovell was a relative to Laurie Cournoyer, and she and her brother had been staying with the couple in the months leading up to the incident.

Authorities found her body on July 4, when Laurie Cournoyer called 911 to report an unresponsive child.

The couple was initially charged with multiple counts of child abuse, possession of methamphetamine, keeping a place where drugs are used or sold and failure to report the death of a child for the incident.

An 11-year-old boy, who was living in the home at the time, has been charged in the case, although those charges have not been revealed because he is a juvenile.

Taylor Cournoyer, 21, pleaded guilty to the two drug charges in a plea deal that saw the other charges dropped.

In court Thursday in Lake Andes, Judge Steven Jensen told Cournoyer that although he was not directly responsible for the child’s death, his negligence played a role in her murder.

Taylor Cournoyer admitted that in the hours before Lovell’s body was discovered, he was in a stupor and lost track of where he was.

“The court would view that he was in a drug-induced fog and really had no idea what these children were doing, where they were or what they were up to,â€￾ Jensen said.
[...]

Taylor Cournoyer was not a father to any of the children, but had married Laurie Cournoyer the previous summer and was serving as a father figure. His relatives testified that he cared for the children.

He apologized for his behavior on Thursday by submitting a letter to Judge Jensen, but said out loud that he was particularly sorry for referring to the children as “a**holesâ€￾ during his initial interviews with police in the days following the discovery of Lovell’s body.

The quote appeared in court documents and was widely reported in the media.

“I don’t really know why I said that, but I’m sure that I didn’t mean it,â€￾ he said. “The kids, they are mean to each other, they do act up. I just want to clear that up that that’s what I’m referring to,â€￾

Jensen gave Cournoyer credit for 140 days already served in the Charles Mix County Jail, and told him making him parole eligible in just over four years.

“I hope that you get the drug treatment you need in the penitentiary,â€￾ Jensen said.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/...er-dead-Wagner-toddler-sentenced-drug-charges

RieLee Lovell's father, Guilovelo Lovell, agreed that Cournoyer deserved the maximum sentence.
[...]

Lovell says he holds both Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer responsible for his daughter's death.

Deputy States Attorney William Golden said 21 year old Taylor began using drugs to escape some of the stress the six children brought.

"When he was supposed to be taking care of the children, he was using drugs, and he was using them to escape his responsibility to those children," said Golden.
[...]

"I wish he would be serving more of the sentence the court gave him," said Lovell.
[...]

Witnesses for the defense testified that Cournoyer was a caring and responsible father figure before he started using drugs.

"As you can see, the result of what happened when they do use it, people just need to realize that kids are more important," said Lovell.

During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor played some audio from the police interrogation of Cournoyer. In it, Cournoyer expresses his disbelief at how he couldn't have checked on the two year old for such a long period of time. The prosecutor said drugs were the clear answer.

Laurie Cournoyer, Taylor's wife and the mother of four of the six children in the house, is waiting for a jury trial for drug charges, child neglect and failure to report the death of a child.

http://www.ksfy.com/story/20222411/...that-contributed-to-the-death-of-a-2-year-old

 

[Dakota]

A Wagner woman pleaded guilty to drug possession on Tuesday in connection to the death of a toddler last summer.

Laurie Cournoyer, 29, also pleaded no contest to the charge of failure to report the death of a child. Two-year-old RieLee Lovell was strangled to death in Cournoyer’s rural Wagner home. The body was found by police in a closet July 4 after Cournoyer called 911 almost two days after the girl’s death, authorities said.

Cournoyer, 29, could receive up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced at 10 a.m. March 14 in Lake Andes.

She pleaded guilty to two separate counts of possession of a controlled substance, one count of maintaining a place where drugs are used or sold.
[...]

Cournoyer was the legal caregiver for RieLee Lovell, Lovell’s older brother and four of her own children when the toddler was strangled to death.
[...]

Laurie Cournoyer’s no contest plea to failure to report the death of a child marks the first conviction for a violation of the law in South Dakota.
[...]

Cournoyer’s second drug possession plea stems from a September incident at the Charles Mix County Jail. A drug test showed methamphetamine in her system after jailers noted a series of odd behaviors.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20130123/NEWS/301230044/Guilty-plea-entered-Wagner-child-death

 

[Tundratot]

Cournoyer was the legal caregiver for RieLee Lovell, Lovell’s older brother and four of her own children when the toddler was strangled to death.

So, RieLee was there in their home for months with her brother and all their children, but we don't know why? At least we now know it was legal. Makes me think one of the parents was in prison.

An 11-year-old boy, who also was living in the home, has been charged in closed juvenile court.

This seems to be the only clue as to who the authorities are holding responsible for strangling RieLee. I guess we'll never know what prompted that.

At one point during pre-trial proceedings, Swier had challenged the constitutionality of Caylee's Law, arguing that a person would be forced to give up their right against self-incrimination to defend themselves.

Huh? How does reporting a death necessarily self-incriminate?

 

[Gaudy Butterfly]

Huh? How does reporting a death necessarily self-incriminate?

Because in all the best cop shows the person who found the body "did it"!? :whistle:

 

[MommysLosingIt]

I just need to know why she wasn't with her bio parents, or at least with a relative. Was her family THAT fucked up that these dumbasses were the next best thing? What in the blue hell was happening there?

 

[VAS1326]

I just need to know why she wasn't with her bio parents, or at least with a relative. Was her family THAT fucked up that these dumbasses were the next best thing? What in the blue hell was happening there?

She was with a relative though I'm not 100% sure of the relationship.

Lovell was a relative to Laurie Cournoyer, and she and her brother had been staying with the couple in the months leading up to the incident.

 

[Dakota]

A Wagner woman arrested after a 2-year-old girl was found dead lying in a closet in the woman's home has been sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Laurie Cournoyer, 29, was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison on one count of possession of a controlled substance, five years for failing to report the death of a child, and five years for keeping a place for the use or sale of a controlled substance.

She was also sentenced to 10 years in prison with eight years suspended for being caught with methamphetamine while in custody in the Charles Mix County Jail.

http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/77390/group/homepage/

The woman who pleaded guilty to meth charges following the discovery of a dead toddler in her Wagner home says she is remorseful.

29-year-old Laurie Cournoyer was sentenced Thursday for possessing meth and other charges.

DCI Agent Riley Cook testified at Thursday’s sentencing.

Cook said Cournoyer told him she and her husband had done marijuana just days before two-year-old RieLee Lovell’s death.

Cook also said he could never narrow down when Cournoyer had last seen RieLee. She says she saw her on July 3, the day before the toddler’s body was found in a closet.

Assistant Attorney General Bill Golden says this is one of the most disturbing cases he was worked on. He’s asking for the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison because, he says, her drug use created a dangerous environment for her kids and it allowed the death to happen.

Cournoyer also took the stand. She cried as she admitted she has a problem with meth. She also apologized for not knowing about the little girl's death because she was high.

http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/wagner-woman-sentenced-for-drug-charges/?id=145200

 

[brandi]

Still no answers on the 11 yo and what really happened I see... Ugghh she should have life in prison.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

RieLee Lovell