Posted on 12/17/2005 6:36:09 AM PST by Rebelbase
RUFFIN -- A four-month-old northern Rockingham County infant was smothered to death early Friday as he lay between his parents who had huddled together during a power outage.
Levi Garrett Wagoner, who was named in honor of his father's favorite chewing tobacco, was pronounced dead early Friday at Annie Penn Hospital in Reidsville.
"It's so sad and it could have happened to any of us," said Sheriff's spokesman Dean Venable. No charges are expected to be filed.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, an ice storm knocked out the power in Levi's home at 197 Chilton Road. With no water or heat, Levi's parents, Richard Allen Wagoner, 23, and Willie Michelle Simpson, 20, decided to take him and his siblings to Wagoner's parents' home, who lived a little farther south on Chilton Road.
The couple stayed there until about 8:30 p.m. After hearing on a police scanner that electrical crews were working in the Chilton Road area, they decided to head home.
"I really thought that the power was going to come back on," Simpson said. Plus, she said, she did not want to be an inconvenience to the Wagoner family. The couple had four children with them, all under the age of five. A fifth child spent the night at a friend's house.
With the power still off, the couple and the children sat in front of their three-bedroom, two-story, wood-framed home. They kept warm by staying inside their Ford Explorer and running the heat.
At 10:30 p.m., and still without power, Simpson and Wagoner took the then-sleeping children into their house and huddled them all in the living room.
Wagoner pulled in a mattress for Simpson and himself. Levi was left slepping in his car seat, which had been brought in from the Explorer.
About midnight, Levi woke up needing a diaper change and to be fed. After that, "I put him in the bed with us so he could stay warm," Simpson said.
Sometime during the night, one of the other children crawled into the bed with the couple and the baby.
Wagoner woke up about 5:40 a.m. to get ready for work and noticed that Levi was not breathing.
They called 911. An operator instructed Simpson how to perform CPR on her child.
"I just screamed," she said.
Wagoner took over, and continued until emergency workers arrived.
Levi was taken to the hospital where attempts to revive him failed.
"He was such a sweet baby," Simpson said.
By Friday afternoon, the power still had not been restored at the couple's home.
"I can't tell you if I would go back up there and stay right now, even if the power was back on," Simpson said.
A kerosene heater can be a wonderfull thing if properly used. This is really too bad.
Will the poor dad ever enjoy chewing tobacco again?
So sad, that I will pass on making a joke about this line:
Levi Garrett Wagoner, who was named in honor of his father's favorite chewing tobacco
Sorry about the couples loss, but if their parents lived a little farther down the street, why didn't they just send the kids back to grand parents house???
That is so sad and is also why we have 2 wood burning stoves in our home, one even has a cook top. Prayers for the family and their terrible loss.
uhm,
Ok, she's 20.
This was their 5th! child??? Seems to suggest that in this article.
I used a kerosene heater for several years during my very rural period. I had a small cabin with a loft and only obscene amounts of electricity would have kept it warm.
Yes, they are perfectly safe (and warm!) when used properly.
How cold did it get? Also, what was the cause of death?
Prayers for the family.
5 kids at age 20? How old were they when they started having babies?
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Probably suffocated the baby when someone rolled over on top of him. Co-sleeping with infants is very dangerous....saw a TV show where a medical examiner talked about the high number of deaths to co-sleeping infants caused by "roll over" suffocation.
John, This is another one of those articles that I see pretty regular that make me have to open the original to figure out where it is.
Have you considered adding a "city/state/country" that displays on the face of an article? I can't point to them now, but there's been a few articles in the past that I've been completely baffled as to where it took place, even after visiting the original link. Mostly they are TV station/Radio station links, but the point is sill valid.
For example in this particular article, it'd be nice to see"North Carolina". The reason is, I can't imagine the stupidity of people who'd crush their infant to death, much less have 5 children by the age of 20. I thought that happened only in West Virginia.
Shrug, just a thought.
And their other children were called Skole and Budweiser.
If you do the math-that's 5 x 10 months (giving them a break here)50 months, divided by 12-that's four years. So she started cranking them out at about the age of 16.
I doubt these were all her children by birth.
Five kids in under five years is quite an accomplishment.
Probably some step children involved here.
I posted one last night that need this. Dateline was Bristol. I simply added (TN)
And their other children were called Skole and Budweiser.
you're a phoquing retard!
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