A former Florida babysitter reportedly pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter in connection with the 2019 death of Benjamin Dowling. The woman is accused of injuring the-then infant almost four decades ago.
Dowling, who passed away at 35, had lived his entire life with severe disabilities caused by a brain hemorrhage that he sustained when he was only five months old, according to CBS News. Investigators believe the injury resulted from Terry McKirchy, the babysitter, violently shaking him when he was a baby.
Dowling was left without the ability to walk, talk or feed himself for the rest of his life.
McKirchy, now 62, accepted a plea deal after a Broward County grand jury indicted her on first-degree murder charges in 2021. The charges came after an autopsy that linked Dowling’s death to the injuries he sustained in 1984 when his parents left him in McKirchy’s care in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the report noted. (RELATED: Infant Discovered Dead In Hot Car, Babysitter Gets Arrested, Police Say)
This is not the first time McKirchy faced charges related to the incident. She pleaded no contest to attempted murder in 1985 and was given a lenient sentence, according to CBS News. Then-six months pregnant with her third child, she served weekends in jail until the baby was born.
Babysitter pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2019 death of a man she injured as a baby in 1984 https://t.co/mS0yDBgQLa pic.twitter.com/rOnxPsmexm
— CBSColorado (@CBSNewsColorado) August 21, 2024
She was then placed on probation for three years.
“I know I didn’t do it. My conscience is clear. But I can’t deal with it anymore,” she told CBS Miami at the time.
