Time line in death of child disputed

Time line in death of child disputed

By Electa Draper

Denver Post Staff Writer

May 11 - DURANGO - Sandy Evers, the Bayfield mother accused of child abuse in the death of one of her 11 children, testified Monday that she saw 6-yearold Roberta alive at about 11:30 p.m. the night of her death, part of a time line that the prosecution says makes no sense.

Sandy Evers said that she was walking around the house, putting away laundry and talking to her 20-year-old daughter, Christen, when she noticed Roberta stirring in her bed. Christen Evers also testified that she saw Roberta breathing in her sleep late the night of June 13.

Investigators in the case were never told that anyone saw Roberta alive that late; the family's stories have changed over time and they contradict each other, the prosecution argued.

Routine bed check While making a routine check of the children's bedrooms at about 1:30 a.m. June 14, Sandy Evers testified Monday, she discovered her lifeless daughter.

She woke her husband, Dennis, and the two made a short-lived attempt at resuscitating their adopted daughter. Sandy Evers said that they saw no sign of the vomit that an autopsy would later reveal was packed inside Roberta's trachea and part of her lungs.

The prosecution accuses Sandy and Dennis Evers of tying Roberta's wrists and ankles with leotards and a cloth belt to a cage-like bed, restraining her to such a degree that she was unable, when she threw up her evening meal of oatmeal, to clear her own airways.

District Attorney Sarah Law further charged that the Everses tampered with evidence by cleaning up Roberta and her bed. She also charged Dennis Evers with acting knowingly and recklessly. He declined to take the stand.

Sandra Evers said she fed Rob erta oatmeal about 6 p.m., but the pathologist who performed the autopsy said there was too much food still in Roberta's stomach for her to have eaten so early and died so late. The time line provided by the family is flawed, the doctor testified.

Roberta and two of her sisters went to bed in the same room between 7 and 8 p.m., family members said, but Roberta was making so much noise, uttering little cries, that her two sisters were moved to another room so they could sleep. Sandy or Dennis Evers checked on Roberta several times that night, until 11:30 p.m., according to Sandy Evers' testimony; they did not simply tie her up and leave her.

Sandy Evers testified that Roberta had been tied in bed on only three occasions, and only by her wrists, never her feet. Prosecution witnesses said that Dennis Evers told investigators that Roberta's feet also had been tied, but Sandy Evers denied it.

Had been misbehaving During the 10 days or so before her death, Roberta had been going through a rough period, misbehaving in novel ways for her, Sandra Evers testified. She had gotten up at night, banged and bruised herself on the wooden parts of her bed and even wet and defecated in bed. She said that restraints "redirected'' Roberta, giving her something to fuss with instead of hurting herself. The restraints were loose enough to give Roberta ample space to sit up and roll over, she testified, and Roberta eventually could have wiggled out of them.

Sandy Evers said that Roberta's netting-enclosed bed, described by prosecution witnesses as a cage, was considered "cool'' by the children. They called it "the fort'' and fought over who got to sleep in it.

Closing arguments in the trial, now in its third week, are scheduled for this morning.