Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine revealed new information in the investigation into the death of a 4-year-old girl and the arrest of her guardian.
Watch KMTV Action 3 News at 5 for a full report on the status of the investigation.
Read six quotes from his press conference Thursday morning below (Watch the full briefing in the video player above):
1. “What I can tell you at this point in time is that the autopsy’s been completed from the standpoint of the doctor’s examination of the body. The results, the preliminary results of the autopsy are inconclusive.”
2. “We are charging Chelsea Cook with intentional child abuse this morning. That’s a class IIIA felony. She’ll be in court tomorrow morning, courtroom 50 at 9 a.m., to answer to those charges.”
3. “On January 3, 2016, the defendant found the 4-year-old victim lying naked on the floor in the residence, shallow breathing, cold to the touch to some extent. At that time the defendant failed to seek any medical attention or treatment for that child. Police responded. On January 5th, they found the child wrapped in plastic in the basement of that residence. There was a tiny amount of food in the residence, very little food. Only one bed in the residence. There was a question about how well the heat worked in that furnace at that residence at the time. So, the failure to seek medical treatment, the fact that we believe the child was at risk because of the nature of the residence and the care given is the crux of the intentional child abuse charge.”
4. “Without, at this point in time, a doctor being able to give us definitive cause of death, that stops us pretty much from doing anything with regard to a homicide charge.”
5. “It carries up to three years. Now that the legislature made the change in 605 last year, that changed the penalty for that, lowered the penalty for that to three years.”
6. “I don’t know what her thought process was, but to me it’s very obvious. If you’re putting the body in the basement of a residence and not calling anyone. She finally apparently did tell her family and that’s how it led to the discovery of the child being there.”
Previous coverage on KMTV:
Biological mother says 4-year-old's death could have been prevented
