Pair worked hard to get Korean child, husband explains
Girl shaken to death, officials say; man says his wife couldn't have done that
James A. Gillaspy
After a week of waiting to see his jailed wife, David Kyrie is struggling with claims that Rebecca Kyrie killed the 13-month-old girl the Kyrie were working to adopt.
He admits it's been hard -- hard because it's not possible, he says, that the Sheridan woman is guilty of the anger and frustration that could push her to shake the Korean orphan to death.
He thinks investigators got it wrong.
"I do not believe my wife is guilty, and I have very good reasons to believe that other than just my wife's character," said the St. Francis Hospital nurse.
"This is a child that we worked extremely hard to get into the country, and then tried extremely hard to find out what medically was wrong with her."
According to David Kyrie, it was Hei Min Chung's undiagnosed physical ailments that ultimately killed her.
Detectives and medical experts they talked to share another theory.
Rebecca Kyrie, 28, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder. Investigative reports indicate the child the Kyries had named Chaeli Kyrie suffered fatal brain trauma due to the whiplashing effects of shaken baby syndrome.
The child was pronounced dead Sept. 4, one day after Rebecca Kyrie called 911 from her home to report the baby's shallow breathing and to plea for help.
Evaluating physicians at St. Vincent Children's Hospital said the child's brain was bleeding and showed no sign of life.
A consulting ophthalmologist, Dr. Derrick Sprunger, confirmed evidence of trauma, including extensive retinal hemorrhages in both eyes -- another symptom of shaken baby syndrome.
"Dr. Sprunger advised that his findings are consistent with abusive head trauma and the injuries he observed would have required significant trauma," according to a statement of evidence filed in court.
"Dr. Sprunger stated that the severity of the injuries was such that the force could be equated to the force associated with a severe car wreck."
On Dec. 12, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department received the coroner's final report declaring the death a homicide, with the cause listed as blunt cranio-cerebral injuries, a reference to shaken baby syndrome, officials said.
David Kyrie's focus is on other investigative findings, however.
As he prepared Monday to move from a friend's home in Fishers, where he and his wife had lived since state child protection authorities forbade them from continuing to live with their two young biological sons, he said detectives discounted Chaeli's medical history.
He said medical documentation shows Chaeli had various ailments at birth, was prone to inexplicable vomiting and seizures, seemed excessively sleepy and had a small head that did not grow. The Kyries had been working with Bethany Christian Services to adopt the child.
"We were trying to find out if her head wasn't growing to accommodate her brain," said Kyrie, who spoke of several tests and trips to medical, nutritional and psychiatric specialists in Chaeli's four months as a family member.
"I think it was noteworthy how many people we went to, trying to find out what her medical problem was . . . and I believe that the side effects of what medical conditions she had is what led to her death."
With his wife being held without bond, Kyrie was unsure if he would be allowed to rejoin his sons. Meantime, the 3- and 5-year-olds remain in the family's Sheridan home under the care of another family member.