PROSECUTORS CLAIM BIAS IN DEATH

Miami Herald, The (FL)

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dateline: ST. PETERSBURG

A former foster mother, facing charges in the death of an infant in her care, once said that touching black children gave her "the willies," according to court documents.

Judith Lundy also described 4-month-old foster child Corey Greer as "a big black blob," a sworn deposition states.

The child was found dead in the 47-year-old woman's Treasure Island home on July 21, 1985, about two weeks after he was placed there. Police described the premises as filthy and overcrowded. Social workers had placed 12 children in the home, even though it was licensed by the state for four.

An autopsy showed that dehydration and excessive salt in the bloodstream contributed to Corey's death. The child had a heart problem but a prescribed monitor was not in use at the time, police said.

Lundy has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter and faces trial early next year.

Prosecutors contend the baby was neglected because he was black. Lundy is white.

John Remedis, a detective who investigated the case, gave a sworn statement to prosecutors recounting a conversation with two volunteers for the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, the state agency which placed the child.

"Judith Lundy advised the volunteers that she did not think it was fair that she had to watch black children," Remedis' statement said, later adding that Lundy told other children that "she did not wish to care for blacks and did not want to touch them."

After Corey's death, Lundy strongly denied that she ever neglected the baby.

Lundy allegedly expressed an aversion to black children one day when she went to a hot dog shop operated by Beverly Ann Lindstrom and her boyfriend James Scales, according to Lindstrom's deposition.

Lundy ordered a dozen or more hot dogs and chatted with Lindstrom, who asked if she was feeding an army. Recalling their conversation, Lindstrom said the woman mentioned she was a foster mother and said "I love my babies," but added something to the effect that they were more than she could handle.

Lundy said she was concerned because her daughter was coming to visit. "She said, 'I have a black child with me, and I am not sure how my daughter will react to that.'

"And she asked me if I had ever touched a black child," Lindstrom said, adding that Lundy went on to state "It just gives me the willies."

She would check the children at sleep time but "she said whenever she got down the hallway, and she would look into this one baby's room, she said this little black baby, she said it was a big black blob laying there," Lindstrom' statement said.