A 20 year-old Mauston woman is charged with felony child neglect resulting in death, for leaving her 16-month-old son in a hot camper in mid July. Sauk Prairie Police Chief Jerry Strunz says Brandie Nelson maintained later in the day that she had been checking on her son Tanner every 20 minutes or so. “The initial arriving police officers spoke to her at the scene. Her initial statements were that she put Tanner down for a nap three hours ago. When she was asked by EMS crews when was the last time she checked on him, her statement to EMS was three hours ago. By the time investigators spoke to her at the hospital, she told them that she checked on him in 20 minute intervals throughout the course of the day.”
And Sauk County Assistant DA Kevin Calkins says curdled milk in the baby’s bottle also proves just how hot it was inside the trailer, “We’re alleging that she did not check on the child at all. That’s one of the things in there that talks about the curdled milk. We were told that would take an extended period of time at very high heat, to get that effect.” Police say on a day with high heat and humidity, the AC unit wouldn’t have provided enough cool air. Plus, on this day, a door was closed in the trailer which blew the cold air to the opposite side of the trailer from where the little boy was sleeping.
WIBA