Trial moved to March for Crawford woman charged in poisoning of 11-year-old adopted son
TIM HAHN Erie Times-News
A Crawford County woman accused of causing her 11-year-old adopted son's death in 2021 by giving him windshield washer fluid to drink is now facing a March trial date.
The trial of 63-year-old Mary E. Diehl was moved to the March trial term in Crawford County last week after Diehl's lawyer, Eric Hackwelder, asked for a continuance. Hackwelder said he is continuing to consult with his expert in the case.
Diehl, who remains in prison without bond, faces one count of criminal homicide in the Sept. 5, 2021, death of Najir W. Diehl.
Najir, whom authorities said had special needs and had an extensive history of health-related problems, was found dead in bed at the family's home at 7621 Mallard Road in East Fairfield Township by Pennsylvania State Police troopers who were called there on the morning of Sept. 6, 2021.
Investigators said the boy's death was preliminarily believed to have been natural, but they were awaiting the results of toxicology testing. The testing revealed the presence of a poisonous substance in Najir's blood, and additional testing found evidence indicating the substance was ingested while Najir was alive, state police reported.
A state police trooper who testified at Diehl's preliminary hearing in December 2021 said Diehl initially reported that she believed Najir died from suffocating in his bedding due to a seizure. The Crawford County Coroner's Office initially determined that Najir died of asphyxiation due to a seizure disorder, and no autopsy was done. But the toxicology testing found a lethal amount of methanol in the boy's system, the trooper testified.
Crawford County Coroner Scott Schell then conferred with Erie County forensic pathologist Eric Vey, M.D., and following more study the manner of Najir's death was determined to be methanol toxicity, with a single dose occurring on the evening of Sept. 5, 2021, according to the trooper's testimony.
Diehl told troopers during a November 2021 interview that Najir was never out of her sight on Sept. 5 and was unable to walk or open a container that might contain methanol. She also said that such substances were kept in a tool room at their home, and Najir did not have access to it, according to testimony.
Later on the day of the interview, according to the trooper, Diehl stated to another trooper that on Sept. 5, after the family had eaten dinner, she sat Najir in the living room, went to the tool room and filled a plastic cup halfway with windshield washer fluid and gave it to Najir to drink.
The trooper said Diehl said she gave Najir the fluid to drink because she wanted to "free him."
Authorities said Najir, who was born in Erie in June 2010, lived with Diehl and another child, who was 10 years old at the time of the incident in 2021.
Other upcoming homicide trials in Crawford
The Crawford County District Attorney's Office is preparing for upcoming trials in two other homicide cases in the county.
Erie resident Daryl S. Gillespie, 29, is scheduled for trial in January on criminal homicide and burglary charges, District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo said.
Gillespie is accused of fatally shooting his wife, 23-year-old Christina Ruhl-Farnsworth, at the home she shared with her father in the 12000 block of Route 618 in Sadsbury Township, near Conneaut Lake, on Sept. 14, 2021.
Four men are scheduled for trial in March in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Nathaniel E. Harris in an apartment on Walnut Street in Meadville on July 3, 2021. Timothy T. Bolden, 26, Qwamae D. Sherene, 19, Jayden I. Speed, 19, and Martavious K. Stout, 18, are facing charges in the killing.
A fifth suspect in the homicide, 17-year-old Kavan M. Boitnott, pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, DiGiacomo said.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.