Jun 23, 2006 11:16 am US/Central
Toddler's Death Rocks Small Town
Fergus Falls, Minn. (AP) ―
The death of a 2-year-old girl at her daycare, and the subsequent manslaughter charges against a 13-year-old boy, have rocked this small town in northwestern Minnesota.
"It's a pall over the whole town," said Guy Olson, the funeral director of Olson Funeral Home, where the funeral for Emily Lynn Johnson was scheduled for late Friday morning.
Mayor Russell Q. Anderson agreed. "The whole community grieves for these people," he said. "They are each a very fine family."
Steve Olson, a friend to Johnson's parents, said the couple was doing "as well as can be expected" after the death of their only child. "Both parents were very proud parents," he Olson said.
Dee Gilbertson, who lives next door to the Johnsons, described the girl as a happy child "who had a smile for everyone." "I would stand in my window and watch her run and play," Gilbertson said. "She was a little small, but she was so full of energy."
Assistant Otter Tail County Attorney Michelle Eldien said the 13-year-old boy was charged with second-degree manslaughter in juvenile court on Wednesday.
"What happened to her would take one huge blow," Eldien said of what killed Johnson. She said the death did not appear to have been an accident.
"He knew that there was a risk of the child's death, or he should have known," she said. "In that sense it was not an accident. There was definitely an assault."
Eldien said she was limited in what she could say because the case is in juvenile court. She declined to name the teen.
However, she said that if he is convicted of the current charges he could be imprisoned or institutionalized, but he would have to be released at 19.
The boy was arrested Tuesday and was being held in a juvenile facility.
Johnson, 2, was taken to the hospital Friday after her day-care provider could not wake her up from a nap. The toddler died Saturday at a Merit Care Children's Hospital in Fargo, N.D.
Sheriff Brian Schlueter said an autopsy found the girl had died of a head injury. He said the injury happened at the day care.
The day care has been closed for the investigation.
(© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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