Posted on 10/11/2002 9:15:00 PM PDT by finnman69
Doctor warned Anderson against confrontation, didn't report sex abuse allegations
By JOHN FIKE • jfike@limanews.com • 419-993-2098
DEFIANCE - A Lima doctor did not report to Auglaize County Children Services when Kimberly Anderson told him that her son might have been sexually abused.
Dr. Wilfred Ellis was one of 13 witnesses to take the stand Friday in the trial of Anderson, who is accused of murdering her estranged husband, Brent Anderson. Brent Anderson was shot and killed Sept. 2, 2001, in rural Wapakoneta. Anderson faces charges of aggravated murder, murder and voluntary manslaughter. The trial was moved to Defiance to ensure an impartial jury.
Ellis told jurors he had a phone conversation with Kimberly Anderson the night before the shooting. Anderson said her 3-year-old son had told her that his dad, Brent Anderson, put mustard on his penis and licked it off. Ellis said he advised Kimberly Anderson to take the child to his pediatrician on Tuesday, after Labor Day, and also told her not to confront Brent Anderson on the issue. Anderson testified Thursday that she confronted Brent Anderson about it because she couldn't believe the allegation was true.
As a doctor, Ellis is required by state law to report instances of alleged child abuse, he said on the stand. Under questioning by prosecutors, Ellis said he did not report what he heard from Kimberly
Anderson. He argued he was not required to report the story because he heard it from Kimberly Anderson rather than the victim, her son, and because he is not the child's physician.
"I had no way of knowing the truth of the accusation," Ellis said. He said he was acting properly in referring Kimberly Anderson to the child's pediatrician. "I do have an obligation to make sure the situation is properly worked up."
Ellis also said that, unbeknownst to Kimberly Anderson that night, Brent Anderson had been calling his office "making insinuations that weren't true." Ellis said he didn't want to get in the middle of their divorce situation.
Ellis, along with his housekeeper Jacqueline Parent, verified previous testimony that Brent Anderson once posed as a cable television repairman in an attempt to enter Ellis' house. Craig Oard, the son of Mike Oard who was a boyfriend of Kimberly Anderson at the time of the shooting, testified to verify other witness statements that Brent Anderson pretended to be interested in buying the Oard's house in order to gain entry. The house was for sale at the time, Oard said. Oard, Ellis and Parent all said they recognized Brent Anderson as the intruder or would-be intruder when they saw his picture in the newspapers after his death.
Kimberly Anderson's mother and former mother- and sister-in-law took the stand Friday to testify that Anderson was hysterical and crying when they found her on the lawn of her home following the shooting.
"She was hysterical, crying, rocking back and forth with the baby," said Patricia Nester, the mother of Anderson's first husband. Nester said she lives about an eighth of a mile from the Anderson house and was the first family member to arrive at the house. "I asked her what happened. She just looked at me. I asked her what happened again. She looked at me again and said, 'I shot Brent.'"
Patricia Nester, her daughter Kristin Ann Nester and Anderson's mother Sue Allen also testified that the Anderson children had been at the Nesters' house the evening after the shooting. Kristin Nester changed the diaper of 1-year-old Ryan. That diaper was later retrieved at the request of a sexual assault nurse and given to the Auglaize County Sheriff's Office as evidence. Detective Mike Eberle later testified that a pubic hair was found in the diaper.
Eberle, Detective Sgt. Dennis White and Deputy Brent Henschen each took the witness stand for the second time this week on Friday. Under questioning by defense attorney Alan Konop, the officers testified that Kimberly Anderson told each of them about alleged child abuse by Brent Anderson in statements made the day of the shooting. The Auglaize County officers did not mention Anderson reporting the abuse or saying she confronted her husband about it during testimony under prosecutors' questioning earlier in the week.
Konop's questioning also revealed that Eberle collected a full-size bed sheet from a crib in Brent Anderson's apartment 24 days after the shooting. Eberle said the sheet, which was crumpled up in the crib, had semen stains on it. Another sheet that appeared to match the semen-stained sheet was also found at the apartment but was not collected, he said.
Although Kimberly Anderson testified Thursday that she struggled with Brent Anderson as she shot him, Eberle said Friday that Anderson never mentioned the struggle in her report to police that afternoon. His testimony was backed up by that of Lynn Miller, the director of the Wapakoneta rescue squad. Miller was at the scene that day. Miller said Anderson did not have any blood stains, scratches or other physical signs of a struggle.
Patricia Knippen of Auglaize County Children Services testified Friday that she interviewed Kimberly Anderson the night of the shooting. Knippen took her and her two boys to Joint Township District Memorial Hospital so the boys could be examined for signs of sexual abuse. She also said that the sexual assault nurse at the hospital recommended getting the diaper that Ryan was wearing when brought home by his dad as possible evidence. Sue Allen and Kimberly Anderson brought the diaper to Knippen several days after the shooting because investigators did not retrieve it.
Ruth Baeumel, the hospital's sexual assault nurse, testified that she examined the Anderson children for signs of sexual abuse and no evidence was found.
Friday testimony:
Kimberly Anderson was hysterical at the scene of the shooting.
Investigators were asked to retrieve a diaper 1-year-old Ryan Anderson had been wearing, but Anderson and her mother turned it in after investigators did not retrieve it.
The child's diaper was found to contain a pubic hair.
Kimberly Anderson told investigators at the scene about allegations that Brent Anderson licked mustard off their child's penis.
Anderson told Dr. Wilfred Ellis about the alleged sexual abuse the night before the shooting. Ellis warned her against confronting Brent Anderson and suggested she take the child to a pediatrician.
Ellis did not report the alleged sexual abuse to children services because he believed it was hearsay and was proper in referring her to the pediatrician.
Kimberly Anderson showed no signs of struggling with Brent Anderson during the shooting.
DNA will show whose pubic hair was in that diaper. If ithe pubic hair belonged to Dad, justice was done. May God bless the wife and the baby.
Uhhh. That's what she claims he did.
Would you react the same if a husband who had just shot his wife made the same claim about her?
Although, if it can be proved that he did this, I would be glad to give her a medal.
I suspect that if he had shot her and made the same claim, the almost unanimous opinion would be that he made it up.
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