DISCLAIMER: The following account addresses allegations of child mistreatment.
An expert pathologist revealed during a trial that the cause of death of a 12-year-old boy under the care of two women in Burlington, Ont., could not be definitively determined through the autopsy.
Dr. Michael Pickup, Ontario’s deputy chief forensic pathologist, highlighted that potential causes of death, such as hypothermia or cardiac arrest due to severe malnourishment, could not be ruled out based on his examination.
Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber, who are facing charges including first-degree murder of the boy, were in the process of adopting him, identified in court as L.L., at the time of his passing in 2022. The identities of L.L. and his younger brother, J.L., are protected by a publication ban.
In addition to the murder charge, Cooney and Hamber are accused of confinement, assault with a weapon (zip ties), and neglecting to provide essential care to J.L.
The trial, presided over by Justice Clayton Conlan in Milton, began last month and is anticipated to run through November.
Autopsy Findings Breakdown
During the trial, Crown attorney Monica MacKenzie requested a detailed explanation from Pickup regarding his autopsy report on L.L.
The examination revealed no significant injuries or irregularities on L.L.’s body. It was determined that L.L. had ingested 11 pills identified as Venlafaxine, a prescribed medication used to treat various mental health conditions.
Pickup noted that the concentration of the medication in L.L.’s system exceeded therapeutic levels but was not lethal. Considering L.L.’s frail physical state, malnutrition was considered a probable factor in his death.
Prior testimony from a child nutrition expert stated that L.L. weighed 48 pounds before his demise, significantly below his weight at six years old, indicating severe malnourishment.
While the autopsy could not confirm malnutrition as the cause of death due to limitations in analyzing L.L.’s blood electrolytes, Pickup explained how malnutrition could lead to heart rhythm disturbances, possibly resulting in death.
Pickup outlined that proving acute starvation as the cause of death would necessitate detecting high ketone levels, which were not present in L.L.’s body. However, the absence of ketones does not rule out the possibility of starvation due to L.L.’s minimal fat reserves.
Hypothermia as a Potential Factor
MacKenzie inquired about other potential causes of death, including drowning, suffocation, and hypothermia, emphasizing the need for further context to make conclusive determinations.
Pickup acknowledged that subtle signs of these conditions would require a deeper understanding of the circumstances surrounding the death. In response to a hypothetical scenario posed by MacKenzie, Pickup agreed that hypothermia could have contributed to L.L.’s demise.
Reports indicated that emergency responders discovered L.L. in a basement bedroom on a night in December 2022, soaked and wearing a wet suit near a cot.
Defense counsel questioned Pickup regarding hypothermia indicators, to which he mentioned only L.L.’s low body temperature at the hospital, cautioning against overreliance on this information due to the timing of the measurement relative to L.L.’s heart failure.
Regarding L.L.’s wet condition, Pickup speculated that he might have been immersed in water, although the exact circumstances remained unclear. The possibility of urination or defecation at the time of death, as suggested by Hamber’s lawyer, was deemed uncommon by Pickup.
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