FOSTER MOTHER CHARGED

Anchorage Daily News

The 2-year-old foster child who died earlier this week was killed by the woman who was going to adopt her, police said.Detectives Friday charged Marcias Reinhold, 38, with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Janessa Aguirre. According to court papers charging Reinhold, death came from severe injuries to the head that caused internal bleeding.

But the child suffered more pain through last weekend before she finally died at Providence Alaska Medical Center on Tuesday, police said. Her face was burned and branded with a hair dryer -- eight times. Her mouth and chin had been scalded by hot food.

Reinhold called paramedics to the home Monday afternoon after, she told police, she left the toddler alone in the bath and came back to find her face down in the water.

Reinhold was being held Friday night at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute where she voluntarily checked herself in earlier this week. Although police had planned to jail her, physicians convinced them to leave Reinhold under their care temporarily, said police spokesman Ron McGee. Bail was set at $150,000, cash only, and with a third-party custodian required.

The state Division of Family and Youth Services was continuing its own investigation into the death Friday. Social workers had placed the child in the home in March 1996. Reinhold and her husband, Michael Reinhold, had begun adoption proceedings for the child, DFYS said.

Janessa's foster care was scrutinized in May by a volunteer citizens' panel set up by the state, and no problems were found, said Steve McComb, the acting regional DFYS administrator. She had a court-appointed advocate.

"This is a case where good work was done by the system," said Barb Malchick, the state's deputy public advocate. "This is a case that did have all the checks and balances in place."

By all accounts, the Reinholds appeared to provide a perfectly acceptable foster home. But, according to Marcias Reinhold's statements to police related in Friday's charging documents, life in the home changed a week ago.

On Dec. 12, DFYS placed a second foster child in Reinhold's care, a child who she said cried nonstop.

Sometime between then and Sunday, Marcias Reinhold was in the family's garage, preparing a box of items to donate to the Salvation Army. Janessa was standing on a chair and was getting in the boxes. Reinhold said she pushed the chair to make the child stop. The toddler fell and the back of her head slammed against the cement floor.

Reinhold told police she later took the child to the bathroom and tried to look at the head injury, but the youngster wouldn't be still. Using a hair dryer, Reinhold allegedly burned the child's face eight times: "retaliation for Janessa not sitting still," the charging documents said.

Investigators wrote that Reinhold said she then smashed the hair dryer against the bathroom floor and threw it away.

On Monday, the child suffered scalds on her lips and chin after being given a bottle of over-heated cereal. She refused to eat and spit out the food, causing the facial burns. In the court papers, Reinhold said she slammed the child to the kitchen floor for not eating.

Later, Reinhold put Janessa in the bath, then left her for an estimated 45 minutes while she attended to the other foster child. Reinhold described herself to investigators as being "frustrated about (the) second infant in the home crying incessantly."

By the time Reinhold went back to Janessa, the child was unconscious.

Lt. Bill Gifford said police are continuing their investigation. He said that Michael Reinhold was never home when the child was injured and probably won't be charged.

Neither police nor state social workers could say Friday why the seemingly tranquil home environment may have turned so violent. DFYS officials couldn't answer questions about the last time a social worker had seen Janessa, but said the agency had not previously received any abuse or neglect complaints about the family. Social workers did take another foster child from the home in August after a disagreement between the foster parents and infant-learning specialists sent to work with that child.

Michael Reinhold is a cook for the National Guard Youth Corps program. He's on unpaid leave because of the death, said Capt. Mike Haller. Marcias Reinhold is a homemaker. The couple have no children of their own.

The Reinholds became foster parents in July 1995 under a special license granted to take a godchild into their home, said foster parent licensing supervisor Gwen McAlpin. After caring for that child, the couple asked to continue as foster parents for other children and were granted a permanent license. Janessa was one of about 20 other children since then that they have taken into their home, McAlpin said.

Janessa was born Oct. 18, 1995, to a young couple who gave her up for adoption. The child's natural grandmother, Peggy Coleman, said Friday night, "It was the right call at the time."

She visited the baby at the Reinhold home some time ago and said everything was fine. She was thrilled the Reinholds wanted to adopt the baby.

"When I saw Janessa in that home, she was a very loved little girl," Coleman said. "She was adored. Just adored. They adored this child. I feel for all of them."

She also said she believes the state couldn't have foreseen any problems.

"I don't see the state as doing anything wrong," Coleman said. "I don't hold the state responsible. I feel for Marcias."

Her son, she said, was just taking in the news Friday night.

"What's going to hold us together is our belief that Janessa's gone home," she said.

Daily News reporters Lisa Demer and Liz Ruskin contributed to this story.