Babies' Deaths Called 'Unfathomable' Abuse

KENT, Wash., Nov. 18, 2004 — -- The mother of two young boys found starved to death in an apartment well-stocked with food was charged Wednesday with two counts of second-degree murder.

Marie Robinson, 36, of Kent, was also charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, accused of neglecting another son, age 2, King County prosecutors said.

"The degree of neglect is unfathomable," prosecutor Norm Maleng said. "This is one of the most tragic cases I've seen in my years in office."

Robinson was held on $2 million bail pending an arraignment Nov. 30 at the Regional Justice Center in Kent. If convicted, she faces 20 to 36 years in prison, prosecutors said.

The horrific case has raised questions about the performance of the state's Department of Social and Health Services, because the agency had investigated allegations of abuse against Robinson on at least four occasions.

Officers found the bodies of 6-week-old Raiden and 16-month-old Justice on Sunday when they were called to Robinson's apartment by her boyfriend, Christopher Bone, the children's father.

Bone, who had been jailed in Kitsap County, told police he went to the apartment after his release Sunday and got no response. He said he had been trying to contact Robinson by telephone for 10 days.

Police found Robinson passed out in bed, surrounded by more than 300 empty beer cans and garbage, in an apartment smelling strongly of urine and feces, prosecutors said in court documents.

After her arrest, Robinson's blood alcohol level was .40, five times the .08 threshold at which a Washington state driver is considered intoxicated.

Autopsies indicated the two children, already chronically malnourished, went without sufficient food or water for two to four days before they died of malnutrition and dehydration. A refrigerator and pantry in the apartment were stocked with frozen food, bread, canned fruit and 11 unopened cans of infant formula, according to court documents.

The King County medical examiner's office estimated the boys had been dead between one to three days before their bodies were found.

Prosecutors said the 2-year-old boy was foraging for food in the kitchen. He was examined at a hospital and released into the care of his paternal grandmother.

The dead babies were found in their beds, Justice lying on his stomach in a crib in one bedroom and an emaciated Raiden in a bassinet next to his mother.

In interviews with detectives, Robinson said she'd "thought she was doing a good job" with the children. She said after finding Raiden dead in his bassinet on Friday, she covered the bassinet with a blanket and began drinking.

Her lawyer, Colleen O'Connor, said Tuesday that Robinson has been distraught and confused since her arrest.

Robinson has four other children with a former husband. They were divorced in 2001 and he won custody of all four.

In court documents, prosecutors said the ex-husband, who was not identified, claimed Robinson had a history of alcohol addiction.

She has been the subject of at least four complaints to the state Department of Social and Health Services. One was ruled unfounded and paperwork in another was not yet completed. Two other complaints were considered not serious enough for an investigation but were referred to public health nurses.

When ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV in Seattle asked DSHS what those investigations found out, officials said they don't yet know.

"We need to wait and see what happened," DSHS assistant secretary for child welfare services Uma Ahluwalia said. "Could it be that we dropped the ball? We need to check into that, we don't know enough to tell you what happened. There are innumerable possibilities out there. We need to nail it down and figure out what happened before we come forth and say where the issues are."

Typically, cases are investigated and a disposition is reached within 90 days and filed electronically, but in Robinson's case, that did not happen, Ahluwalia said, adding that the agency is trying to determine why there is no electronic record.

"The real danger is jumping to conclusion making pronouncements without all the facts," she said.