Charges in death of foster toddler

Ben Aguirre Jr.

Oakland Tribune

FREMONT -- The foster parents of a toddler who died Monday after being assaulted were charged with murder Friday.

Terry Corder and his wife, Sherrie, both 40, stood emotionless during their arraignment as Judge Dennis McLaughlin read the charges against them.

In addition to the murder charge, Terry Corder is accused of assaulting 2-year-old Dylan George with force that would likely cause great bodily injury, and his wife was charged with endangering Dylan by allowing him to suffer.

If convicted, the pair could be sentenced to as much as life in prison on the murder charge. In addition, if convicted of the other charges, Terry Corder could face another 25 years to life in prison, while Sherrie Corder could be sentenced to another two to six years behind bars, Deputy District Attorney Mark Melton said.

The Corders were arrested Wednesday after investigators determined that Dylan's death was a homicide, police said.

Originally, Sherrie Corder was booked on suspicion of child cruelty and accessory to murder and held on $35,000 bail -- which she posted late Thursday -- but further investigation led the District Attorney's Office to charge her with murder, Melton said. She then was taken back into custody.

Melton would not comment on the details of the incident because it still is under investigation.

The Corders' arrest comes after a three-day investigation in which police found that Dylan, a foster child who'd been in their care for two weeks, died at the hands of another.

The toddler was found inside the Corders' Lahana Way home on Sunday unconscious and not breathing after reportedly hitting his head on the faucet in the bathtub Saturday night.

Paramedics took the toddler to Washington Hospital and then to Children's Hospital Oakland, where he was pronounced dead Monday morning.

An autopsy revealed that he'd died from multiple blunt injuries to the head, which Sherrie Corder said were caused by the fall.

However, evidence didn't support SherrieCorder's story and authorities learned that Terry Corder struck the child, police said.

Dylan's death has left neighbors and acquaintances of the Corders in a state of shock, while angering at least one friend of the toddler's family.

"I'm very upset," family friend Mary Bertler said. "(Dylan) was a wonderful child."

Dylan was born on April 16, 2002, at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward to Monica Mirales and Michael George Jr., both of Hayward. A week before Dylan's second birthday, Monica Mirales gave birth to another boy, Justin, but he died in early August from sudden infant death syndrome.

After Justin's death, George and Mirales, who were unemployed, received more bad news when they were evicted from their downtown Hayward apartment, Bertler said.

With the family looking for a place to stay and both searching for work, they agreed to let Dylan stay with Bertler, who'd been a family friend for almost two years, she said.

Dylan stayed with Bertler for a week in early September until Child Protective Services, a county-level division of the California Department of Social Services, took Dylan and placed him into foster care with the understanding that he'd return to Bertler's home once a thorough background check had been done, Bertler said.

Social workers were to inspect Bertler's house Monday, but never came, she said.

"Theoretically, I could have had him back by Tuesday," she said.

Andrew Roth, a spokesman for the state agency, said he could not discuss Dylan's case, citing reasons of confidentiality.

But he said when children are taken into foster care, they are placed into homes by the county or by a foster family agency, such as Agape Villages Foster Family Agency, which put Dylan in the Corders' home last month.

In a statement Thursday, Agape Villages President Richard Blythe said the agency is confident in its parental certification process, but Dylan's death will cause them to re-evaluate.

Meanwhile, social services has suspended the Corders' day care license and has imposed a lifetime ban on them fostering any more children, Roth said.

Dylan's parents attended Friday's arraignment to get a good look at who had been caring for their child. Before entering the court, they told reporters that they were having a hard time dealing with the pain of losing both of their sons.

"I have trouble sleeping at night," George said, clutching a football and a pair of baby shoes. "My brain is just mush."

The couple left the Fremont Hall of Justice immediately after the hearing without commenting.

William Linehan, the attorney who represented Sherrie Corder on Friday, said the murder charge was unjustified.

"She didn't murder anybody," he said.

The Corders were ordered to return to court Friday for further arraignment and possibly to enter a plea.