15554: (Hermantin) Miami Herald-Sitter jailed in death of baby (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Sat, May. 10, 2003

Sitter jailed in death of baby
By WANDA J. DeMARZO AND DANIEL de VISE
wdemarzo@herald.com


More photos

Fort Lauderdale police are holding Nelly Rose Joseph on a charge of
second-degree murder in the Jan. 23 death of 7-month-old Fierra Dorelus.


Nelly Rose Joseph had no license to run a day-care center but took as many
as 17 children at a time into her cramped Fort Lauderdale apartment,
investigators say.

Today the center is closed -- and Joseph under arrest -- after the death of
a 7-month-old girl who allegedly suffered a fractured skull while in her
care.

Joseph, 48, is charged with second-degree murder. She was denied bond from
Broward County Jail Friday in the Jan. 23 death of Fierra Dorelus, following
an exhaustive investigation that enlisted medical experts to prove the baby
must have died while in the sitter's apartment.

Joseph's own 10-year-old son dialed 911 to report that Fierra was
''twitching'' in the crib and that her eyes were rolled back. The son is now
in the care of an uncle.

Expressionless when led from her home by detectives on Thursday, Joseph
claimed the baby seemed sick when she arrived at her home and said she tried
repeatedly to contact Fierra's mother.

Telephone records showed no such calls. And medical experts said the girl
must have been violently shaken and struck within an hour or two of her
death.

''It's sort of like if you took a pillow and you shook it hard enough that
the stuffing came out of it,'' said Dr. Randell Alexander, an expert on
shaken-baby syndrome who studied the case. ``When you have these massive
brain injuries, you only have an hour or two before need a ventilator or you
are going to die.''

Investigators said Joseph built her baby-sitting business by word of mouth
within the Haitian immigrant community, taking in neighborhood children
along with her nieces and nephews.

On the day of Fierra's death, Joseph was watching several relatives and four
or five other children as old as 10. The older children, interviewed by
police, said they were watching cartoons in a separate room and did not see
what happened to the baby girl.

This was not the first allegation of child abuse against Joseph.

On Nov. 3, 2001, the mother of two children, one age 2, the other 6 months
old, brought them to Broward General Medical Center after noticing bruises
on the children's thighs, legs and head.

Dr. John Wright, who examines children on behalf of the state, ruled that
the injuries were caused by child abuse and reported them to the Department
of Children & Families. He declined to discuss the case Friday.

Investigators from Broward Sheriff's Office child protective team inspected
Joseph's home and found no evidence that she was running an illegal day-care
center.

If investigators had found more than two children in Joseph's home when they
visited, they could have contacted the Child Care Licensing and Enforcement
section of the county's Children's Services Administration and had her shut
down for operating a day-care illegally. Joseph would then have had to
adhere to the rigid guidelines for operating a day-care center.

''She would have been given a citation and fined $500,'' an investigator
said.

NO KIDS IN HOME

But Joseph did not have any children in the home the day of the visit by
regulators.

''If you have someone babysit your kids and find out that they hit your
child, it would be up to you to call police and take action,'' said a person
close to the investigation. ``We made sure that the children were not
exposed to any danger, and that they would not be in contact with Joseph,
who said she only baby-sat for family or friends and she didn't do it for
money.''

Police said Joseph was paid. And she continued caring for children. Police
found some of Joseph's customers reluctant to talk. Joseph, police said, was
willing to watch their children at odd times.

''She would offer a service like picking up kids from homes and schools,''
said Detective Mike Reed. ``For the people in the community, there was a
feeling that if she was shut down, it would hurt them. They relied on her
secretive babysitting.''

Detectives say Joseph picked up Fierra from her Fort Lauderdale home around
6:30 a.m. on Jan. 23. The baby's mother, Marie Audatte, had left the girl
with Joseph the week before and had not noticed any problems.

When Joseph failed to bring the infant back home around 6 p.m. that day,
Audatte became worried.

RUSHED TO HOSPITAL

When she called, Joseph told her the baby was being rushed to the hospital
after being found face-down in a portable crib, not breathing.

Fierra was pronounced dead at Broward General. An autopsy revealed a
fractured skull and bleeding behind the eyes, signs that an infant has been
repeatedly shaken and struck.

Neighbors in Joseph's dusty apartment complex described scant dealings with
her.

Camille Stevens, a school-bus driver vacationing from Brooklyn with Joseph's
neighbor, said he watched three detectives lead the emotionless suspect from
the apartment Thursday morning.

''If she killed a 7-month-old baby,'' Stevens said, ``she should go to jail
for that.''

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