Lindorff tries to explain herself

The Franklin Twp. woman cried as the prosecutor grilled her on statements she made after her son, 5, died.

Wendy Ruderman

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Using rapid-fire questioning, a prosecutor yesterday attacked what she said were discrepancies in Heather Lindorff's version of events surrounding the death of her 5-year-old son.

The Franklin Township mother often broke out in tears on the witness stand as she struggled to explain statements she had made to investigators hours after the death of Jacob Lindorff, whom she and her husband adopted from Russia, in December 2001.

"I was not thinking that night," Lindorff said, adding that she had been "in shock" over her son's death, sleep-deprived and badgered by investigators.

"I would have told [investigators] the Pope wasn't Catholic," she said.

Lindorff is charged with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Her husband, James, is a co-defendant charged with child abuse.

Under questioning from Gloucester County Assistant Prosecutor Mary Pyffer, Lindorff said Jacob appeared happy and "normal" on the afternoon of his death. She testified that Jacob was dancing, watching cartoons and coloring.

Pyffer told Lindorff that she had painted a very different picture of Jacob's final hours for investigators.

According to the taped statement Lindorff gave to investigators on Dec. 15, 2001, Jacob let out a "deep gravelly scream" and went limp sometime in the afternoon. He started "grinding his teeth" and breathing heavily, and he urinated on himself. She put him to bed, and when she checked on him later, his neck "felt sweaty" and he had tears in his eyes.

Lindorff, however, insisted yesterday that Jacob had seemed fine. She said she had put him in bed about 4 p.m. so she could cook dinner, and then checked on him five or six times.

"He was a normal kid . . . you put him to bed, however?" Pyffer questioned. "He was perfectly healthy . . . yet you felt the need to check on him that many times?"

"Yes," Lindorff answered. "I had a normal little boy one minute, and a son not breathing the next minute."

"So he was fine at 4 p.m. and virtually dead at 7 p.m.," Pyffer said.

"You could put it that way," Lindorff replied.

James Lindorff called 911 about 7 p.m. the day Jacob died and reported that his son had stopped breathing after "some sort of spasm." The Gloucester County Medical Examiner has ruled that Jacob died of blunt head trauma.

When investigators asked Heather Lindorff about second-degree burns on Jacob's feet, she told them she thought he had burned himself while taking a bath alone on the morning of his death. When she discovered him in the tub, he told her that the water was hot and that he "wanted to get out," according to her police statement.

When Pyffer asked yesterday whether Jacob had said anything to her when she walked into the bathroom, Lindorff at first replied, "No."

But when asked again by Pyffer, who also showed her a transcript of her police statement, Lindorff acknowledged that Jacob had complained about the temperature of the water.

Shortly after Jacob's death, investigators went to the Lindorff home to check the temperature setting on the water tank. Lindorff disclosed that just hours before Jacob's death, she had asked her husband to check the water heater and he had turned down the thermostat. Lindorff acknowledged that she had not told investigators that.

Later during testimony, Lindorff told Pyffer that Jacob had had two of what she described as "fits" or temper tantrums in the six-week period after the family adopted him and his two brothers in late October 2001. She had told investigators Jacob's "fits" were so numerous that she had stopped counting them. Lindorff explained to Pyffer that she simply had told investigators what she thought they wanted to hear.

"I was just agreeing with them," Lindorff said. "I just wanted to get out of there."

Under questioning from her attorney, Stephen Patrick, Lindorff spoke lovingly of Jacob. She said that when she met the boy and his two brothers at their orphanage in Russia, she felt as if she had given birth to them.

"They were my boys - they were perfect," Lindorff testified. "It was such an experience to finally see them."

But during the three days she spent with them in their homeland before taking all three to New Jersey, she noticed that "Jacob was different than a normal little boy." He had trouble walking and balancing. He couldn't run or go up and down stairs. He fell down a lot. He had difficulty speaking, often reverting to "baby talk," she testified.

Throughout the 11-day trial, Lindorff's attorney has asserted that Jacob's death was most likely caused by an accidental fall.

Lindorff testified that she paid more attention to Jacob - she "babied him."

"I believe Jacob needed a little bit something more," she said.

Closing arguments are expected today in the Lindorff trial.

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