Woman admits to child-abuse homicide in death of infant boy
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By Stephen Hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune.
A Tooele woman has admitted to killing a 14-month-old boy she and her husband adopted from Russia by deliberately dropping the child on his head in March.
Kimberly K. Emelyantsev, 33, was charged with first-degree felony murder for the March 7 death of Nicoli Emelyantsev. She pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to a lesser count of second-degree felony child-abuse homicide.
Child abuse charges filed against both Emelyantsev and her husband, 32-year-old Fyodor, in connection with the alleged starvation of a 4-year-old boy also adopted from Russia have been dropped. Deputy Tooele County Attorney Gary Searle said there was insufficient medical proof of malnutrition to pursue the child abuse charges.
Kimberly Emelyantsev faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced Aug. 8 by Judge Mark Kouris. But Searle said he would ask the judge to send the woman to prison for a diagnostic evaluation before the final sentence is imposed.
The woman dropped the child on March 6 "out of pure frustration," Searle said, who added that the child was "fussy," and "a lot of things were going on in home involving the child and the family."
Searle also noted that both the Russian children, as well as one of the couple's three biological children, have Down syndrome, and they "demanded a lot of attention."
According to Searle, the surviving children were taken into state custody and later placed with the woman's family.
Searle said Emelyantsev appeared "emotional and upset" during the Friday plea hearing.
"But we're not getting the feeling she was upset because of her own circumstances," Searle said. "She was an individual very upset about what occurred in relation to the child and herself."
shunt@sltrib.com
The Salt Lake Tribune.
A Tooele woman has admitted to killing a 14-month-old boy she and her husband adopted from Russia by deliberately dropping the child on his head in March.
Kimberly K. Emelyantsev, 33, was charged with first-degree felony murder for the March 7 death of Nicoli Emelyantsev. She pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to a lesser count of second-degree felony child-abuse homicide.
Child abuse charges filed against both Emelyantsev and her husband, 32-year-old Fyodor, in connection with the alleged starvation of a 4-year-old boy also adopted from Russia have been dropped. Deputy Tooele County Attorney Gary Searle said there was insufficient medical proof of malnutrition to pursue the child abuse charges.
Kimberly Emelyantsev faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced Aug. 8 by Judge Mark Kouris. But Searle said he would ask the judge to send the woman to prison for a diagnostic evaluation before the final sentence is imposed.
The woman dropped the child on March 6 "out of pure frustration," Searle said, who added that the child was "fussy," and "a lot of things were going on in home involving the child and the family."
Searle also noted that both the Russian children, as well as one of the couple's three biological children, have Down syndrome, and they "demanded a lot of attention."
According to Searle, the surviving children were taken into state custody and later placed with the woman's family.
Searle said Emelyantsev appeared "emotional and upset" during the Friday plea hearing.
"But we're not getting the feeling she was upset because of her own circumstances," Searle said. "She was an individual very upset about what occurred in relation to the child and herself."
shunt@sltrib.com
2008 Jun 24