Mom innocent in baby's death

Mom innocent in baby's death

BY RUTHANN ROBINSON
The Times
Date posted online: Friday, June 30, 2006

After almost four years of fighting the charges against her, Natalie Fabian Evans won Friday.

A Lake County Criminal Court jury found the former Lowell woman not guilty of murder, battery and neglect of a dependent in the death of her adopted 16-month-old son, Luke. The boy died of a severe brain injury brought on by being shaken violently, according to doctors who examined Luke in November 2001.

A defense expert told jurors that Luke, who spent the first nine months of his life in a Russian orphanage, could have had bleeding in his brain for days prior to the day Fabian Evans found him unresponsive in his crib. Fabian Evans testified she tried to wake Luke by giving him a bath, and he hit his head on the tub.