Grand Lake woman charged in death of 3-year-old given time for medical testing

Will Bublitz

Sky-Hi Daily News

A Grand Lake woman accused in the death of the 3-year-old foster child in her care has made her first appearance in the District Court at Hot Sulphur Springs.

During an arraignment on June 5 in the 14th Judicial District Court, Michele Baber’s public defender requested a continuance to allow time for medical tests to be performed as a follow-up to psychological testing that had recently been performed.

Judge Mary Hoak granted the continuance. Baber was ordered to re-appear for her arraignment on July 11.

Baber’s case was bound over to the District Court after a hearing on April 28 before Judge Ben McClelland of the Grand County Court, where sufficient evidence was found to warrant the move to the District Court.

Baber is charged with “child abuse causing death,” a Class 2 felony. She is accused of that offense in the death of Daisai Derzon, who died as the result of head injuries last winter.

The incident that resulted in Derzon’s death took place Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the Baber residence, which was the 3-year-old’s foster home. Derzon was taken by ambulance to the Granby Medical Center for treatment and later transported to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, where she died Saturday morning, Jan. 12.

In a Jan. 15 press release announcing Derzon’s death, the Grand County Sheriff’s Office stated she had suffered “closed head injuries” at her foster home. An autopsy was performed, but the results have not been released.

Investigators from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office as well as the District Attorney’s Office and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation were involved in the case.

An arrest warrant for Baber on the charge of felony child abuse was obtained by investigators from the 14th Judicial District on Saturday, Jan. 26. On Monday, Jan. 28, the arrest warrant was executed by the Grand County Sheriff’s Office, which took Baber to the Grand County Jail where she has remained incarcerated since.