Jury: Mom not guilty in death; Natalie Evans, accused of killing 16-month-old son, acquitted of all charges
Natalie Fabian Evans, the former Lowell woman accused of killing her 16-month-old son, was acquitted of all charges Friday.
Evans, 36, of Munster sobbed uncontrollably and hugged family and friends after the last of the not-guilty verdicts was read after the nine-day trial.
She had been charged with murder, battery and neglect of a dependent.
"Nothing will bring Luke back. We're just glad Natalie's life was not destroyed and that justice was done in the end," defense attorney T. Edward Page said afterward.
But a former Lowell neighbor of Evans', David Dupaulo, felt let down by the verdict.
"(Natalie Evans) is the one of the most unfriendly people I know. Steve has done nothing but bust his hump to raise his son. You know, I have no ambition to go to work now. I really wish I could drive home to make sure Steve is OK," said Dupaulo, a police officer and paramedic who met the Evanses in 2001. "I'm guessing Steve feels let down by the judicial system. It's real disappointing when the bad guys get away," Dupaulo added.
In addition to the murder charge, jurors had the option of considering verdicts for reckless homicide and criminal recklessness inflicting serious bodily injury. They were given the case at 11 a.m. and signaled they'd reached a verdict at 3:30 p.m. The parties assembled in court just before 4 p.m. when the verdicts were read.
During closing arguments before Lake Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr., Deputy Prosecutor Kathleen O'Halloran told jurors she didn't believe Evans woke up on Nov. 29, 2001, with the notion she would kill the boy she and her now-estranged husband, Steve, adopted from Russia six months earlier.
She recounted Luke's odd behaviors that Evans' family and friends noticed and the child's inability to bond to Evans. Before Luke and an older child were adopted in April 2001, Evans underwent attempts at in vitro fertilization.
With her husband working long hours and their marriage in trouble, Evans shouldered the responsibility of caring for the boys in their ranch-style home in rural Lowell. "She was in a stressful situation. Her dreams, her hopes, were falling apart. Her marriage was on the rocks," O'Halloran said.
O'Halloran reminded jurors of the testimony of Dr. Jill Glick, medical director of the child protection team at University of Chicago Children's Hospital, and Dr. Nancy Jones, a forensic pathologist with the Cook County, Ill., medical examiner's office. Both said the injury to Luke's brain was inflicted. The cause of death was shaken baby syndrome.
But Page, in his closing argument, told jurors the state had failed to prove the allegations. "They only have been able to suggest possibilities, probabilities and likelihoods," he said.
A key paid defense witness, Dr. Jan Leestma, a former proponent of the shaken baby syndrome theory, told jurors no one could say for certain when the bleeding between Luke's brain and skull began.
Leestma said a slightly built person like Evans may not be able to generate enough force to shake a baby to death, and there was no evidence of neck injuries he would have expected in such a case.
Defense attorney Nick Thiros said Evans testified her older son, Alec, followed her around the morning Luke became ill. The child, who was 3 at the time, was speaking in full sentences. "Would she take a chance of violently shaking Luke with Alec watching?" Thiros asked.
Staff writer Jamie Ward contributed to this story.