Siblings testify of dead boy's hard past

Jacob Lindorff died at 5. His brothers spoke of abuse in Russia before the Lindorffs, now on trial, adopted them.

Wendy Ruderman

The Philadelphia Inquirer

One by one, they took the stand. In soft voices laced with Russian accents, the Lindorff children told their life stories, each describing an abusive orphanage where beatings were routine.

All five siblings spoke for Jacob, too, recalling a 5-year-old who died two years ago, just two months after Heather and James Lindorff of Franklin Township adopted him.

As the couple's trial continued yesterday, Jacob's two brothers - ages 9 and 7 - testified that their Russian father had at times lashed Jacob with a horsewhip or belt until he bled.

"He beat us all the same, but he beat Jacob more," the 7-year-old brother recalled. The father singled out Jacob, often pushing him to the ground, because he was "the different one," he "walked funny," the boy testified.

Their testimony supported the Lindorffs' defense: that Jacob suffered a head injury in Russia and died Dec. 14, 2001, when the old injury began to "re-bleed," possibly after an accidental fall at the Lindorffs' home.

Heather Lindorff is charged with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. James Lindorff is charged with child abuse.

The Lindorffs adopted three sisters from Russia in early 2000. In October 2001, they adopted Jacob and his brothers. The two sets of siblings are unrelated.

Four of the children, all younger than 14, are living with Heather Lindorff's mother in Vineland. The oldest daughter, 19, lives with the Lindorffs.

On the third day of defense testimony yesterday, Jacob's brothers recalled when their biological mother had doused Jacob with hot water in the bathtub, leaving bubbled blisters on his back, because he had gotten muddy outside. She would slam his head into the wood floor, leaving a bump on the back of his head, one boy testified.

"She would try to choke him or drown him," the 9-year-old brother told jurors.

After their parents died about three years ago, the three brothers were sent to an orphanage, where life wasn't much better. There, they said, caretakers beat them routinely with a teacher's pointer, and made them shove a rope-like, thorn-studded weed down their pants and walk around an oak tree for hours. "It burns," one recalled.

The other boys in the orphanage picked on Jacob, the brothers testified. They kicked and slapped him, the 9-year-old said. Once, he testified, they hung him upside down from an exercise bar and swung him until he fell and hit his head on the concrete.

According to Jacob's 7-year-old brother, an older boy at the orphanage once thwacked Jacob in the back of the head with a "metal thing."

"He fell on a rock, and the boys started piling on him and beating him up," said the 7-year-old, who nervously blew air out of his cheeks while testifying.

All five siblings gave similar descriptions of life in the Lindorff home, often using the exact wording. They smiled at their mother or looked over to her for support as they took the stand.

To prevent them from hearing one another's testimony, each testified while the four others waited outside court.

The siblings said Heather Lindorff had never beaten them. When they misbehaved, the Lindorffs put them in "time out" or made them stand and face the wall, they testified.

"They talked to us, and they put us on the wall," the 9-year-old boy said in court while his brother waited out in the hall.

All five siblings said Jacob had trouble walking and frequently fell down. Three of them compared Jacob's gait to that of a penguin; two said he "wobbled." Three said Jacob would throw a "fit" when he didn't get his way and hurl himself on the ground.

None of the siblings said anything disparaging about the Lindorffs.

Heather Lindorff's lawyer, Stephen Patrick, asked the three youngest children - ages 7 to 11 - whether they understood the difference between the truth and lying. He stressed the importance of testifying honestly, saying they could be punished if they lied to jurors.

"If you tell a lie, what happens?" Patrick asked.

"Mommy is going to go to jail," the 7-year-old answered.

Today, Heather Lindorff is expected to take the stand.

Contact staff writer Wendy Ruderman at 856-779-3926 or wruderman@phillynews.com.