APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Nearly 15 years after a one-month-old boy died in what investigators determined to be a co-sleeping death after a night of drinking, the caregiver, Michael Donnelly, was charged Thursday with first-degree reckless homicide in the case.
An arrest warrant was issued for Donnelly, who is now 35. He was 20 at the time of the death at a home on North Richmond Street in Appleton.
According to the criminal complaint, first responders were called to the home at about 2 a.m. for an unresponsive child on April 29, 2010. The boy was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.
The autopsy showed “there was no anatomic cause of death, there was pulmonary edema in the lungs, petechiae hemorrhage to his forehead and linear red marks to his right forehead and no other traumatic injuries to the body. This would be consistent with a co-sleeping death,” the complaint states.
At first, Donnelly denied he fell asleep with the child on the couch. Police found six empty Blatz beer cans and one empty Bud Light can, but Donnelly said they were from the day before the death, and denied he had been drinking that night. But in a second interview months later, Donnelly’s story changed.
“He then went on to explain why he fell asleep and said he had a long day of working construction and was extremely tired and fell asleep with (the child) on the couch,” the complaint states.
“He was then confronted about drinking on that particular night and admitted to having a “couple of beers earlier in the night.” He went on to explain that he lied to officers about that because he was not 21 on the date of (the child’s) passing,” the complaint states. “He then disclosed to us that he had approximately five to six beers throughout the evening.”
The criminal complaint offers no reason as to why the charges are being filed at this time.
