Suffocation is one way to cure their fever
Posted on 05/11/2005 12:33:45 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Trial set in plastic-wrap case
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
By Larry O'Connor
Prosecutors believe Rives Junction man was trying to kill his daughter when he wrapped her in cellophane. When Henry V. Lott II asked his 16-year-old daughter to skip school so she could join him for a jaunt to Lansing, she didn't give it second thought.
But they stayed at the Springport High School sophomore's home instead April 19 and the visit from her noncustodial father turned into a harrowing ordeal.
On Tuesday, the Rives Junction man was ordered to stand trial on charges of attempted murder, second-degree child abuse and domestic assault after he twice encased the teen's head and face in plastic wrap. He claimed he was merely trying to get rid of his daughter's fever.
One problem, though.
"I was fine," said the girl, who testified during her father's preliminary exam in District Judge R. Darryl Mazur's courtroom.
With a divorce pending, authorities suggest the father became unraveled at the prospect of paying child support for a second child. Lott and his estranged wife, Tammy Lott, also have a son together.
Lott, 37, already was paying support for the teen to the girl's mother, Kimberly Tanner, with whom he was never married.
The home remedy wrap was likely a ruse to suffocate the girl, prosecutors contend.
"When I was laying down, I was licking (the plastic wrap) with my tongue to breath," the daughter recalled. "He told me to stop licking it. It was gross."
By then, the father had already bundled the girl's head and face once. He also wrapped the teen's wrists and hands into oversized mittens.
During the first incident, the dad placed one hand over her face and the other behind her head, said the girl, whose name is being withheld because of her age.
Unable to breathe, she bucked him off her and went to the bathroom, according to testimony.
About 15 minutes later, he had the girl lie down in her bedroom, where he repeated the ritual.
"He said I needed to sweat more," she testified.
This time, the father secured her arms to her waist with the plastic wrap and then placed a pillow over her head "to make it dark" so the teen could sleep, she testified.
"He kept asking me if I was asleep yet," said the girl, who was not sure if she fell asleep or passed out.
When she awoke a half-hour later, her father still was there. He cut away the plastic a second time and left.
"He didn't realize it was going to be that tough a job," said Mark Blumer, chief assistant prosecuting attorney.
Lott's actions also suggested a scheme was in the works, Blumer said.
When arranging their rendezvous, the dad told the daughter not to tell her mother.
On the morning of April 19, Lott arrived at the girl's home at 265 Maple St., Springport, in a maroon vehicle, which was strikingly similar to the mother's 2003 Chevrolet Malibu, Blumer said.
The daughter and a neighbor, Glen Steward, testified they both mistook the vehicle for being Kimberly Tanner's.
When applying the wrap, the father wore surgical gloves, the girl testified.
The corrections officer at Southern Michigan Correctional Facility later told a detective the gloves were a precaution.
"He felt because he was sweating, he used the gloves so as not to contaminate the daughter," said state police Detective Sgt. Lisa Gee-Cram, who was the primary investigator.
Afterward, he placed crumbled plastic wrap and an empty Mountain Dew bottle he drank from into a trash bag, which he hauled off with him. State police recovered the bag and contents during a search of his pick-up truck.
"That is a person of a guilty mind and who's trying to conceal his presence in the home," Blumer said.
Lott only had two years of child support left for the teen, said Jerry Engle, Lott's attorney.
"Albeit it is bizarre, it does not appear to be an attempt to murder," Engle said.
In an unrelated matter, Lott was bound over on two counts of heroin possession.
Jackson police Officer Ryan Speidel testified he found two plastic bags, which contained what appeared to be heroin inside the patrol vehicle used to take Lott to the Jackson state police post April 19.
Lott remains free on bond. He will be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. June 1 by Circuit Judge Charles Nelson.
S I C K !
"Unable to breathe, she bucked him off her and went to the bathroom, according to testimony. About 15 minutes later, he had the girl lie down in her bedroom, where he repeated the ritual."
What's wrong with this picture? The girl must be an idiot or mentally defective.
It's an Air-Tight Case. I just had to say that.
Maybe he believed she was a leftover....
I bet the suspect is still clinging to hope. :-)
Maybe Daddy asked his daughter to spend some time together so they could hang out and rap?
Can't we arraign that other Lott fellow, too?
"I think we're alone now"
"Go away little girl"
Think he sees himself as a wrap star now?
This is just too freakin weird...
"When I was young, we didn't have TV and Nintendo! We had to sit around and cut off each other's air supply! And we liked it!" [/Grumpy Old Man voice]
I do
Give him a fair trial and a fast hanging. Anything less would be unjust.
bizarro ping
Bizarro ping.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.