Crooks Guilty On All Counts
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
"Lois got justice," Vicki Dittman said after Kristina Crooks was found guilty of all three counts of neglect and reckless homicide.
Crooks, 20, was charged in the Jan. 24, 1996, death of her 11-month-old daughter Lois Marie Ozenbaugh. The baby died after choking on her own vomit. An autopsy found six cigarette butts in the baby's stomach and Valium in her blood.
When Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed read the first guilty verdict, Crooks closed her eyes and began to cry. As he read the next two guilty verdicts, her head sank lower and her sobbing became louder. While the judge read his final words, Crooks continued to cry.
She was released on her current bond and ordered to appear for sentencing on Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m.
Crooks faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence for the three convictions of neglect, a Class D felony; neglect causing serious bodily injury, resulting in death, Class B felony; and reckless homicide, Class C felony.
"I think justice has been served," Kosciusko County Det. Thomas Brindle said after the verdict. He was the lead investigator in the case and assistant to prosecutor David Kolbe.
"I am gratified the jury made a statement of how we address homes and parents who are neglectful," Kolbe said. "I am proud of the jury."
Kolbe said he was not suprised by the verdict because he believed the state would win the case. However, he was surprised by the conviction on the reckless homicide charge because it was the hardest case to prove.
"There is a lot of evidence you didn't hear in there," Kolbe said about the trial. He said that evidence of abuse and neglect of Autumn Crooks, Kristina's other daughter, was not admissable in the trial. However, he will bring it up during sentencing. "There is no way to say what I'll ask for," he said about the sentence he will request.
"This shows we value the weakest element of our community and will take any step we can to protect them," Kolbe said of the guilty verdicts.
"We as a county need to take a harder look at the housing we tolerate," Kolbe said. He also said he would continue to focus on abstinance, parental training and support of the child-welfare program.
"Kristina Crooks is a victim of a dysfunctional environment herself," Kolbe said.
Dittman had cared for Lois and Autumn for more than eight months when Crooks told Dittman she could no longer take care of the girls. Crooks took the girls back from Dittman less than one month before Lois died. When the guilty verdicts were read, Dittman began to cry and hug her daughter Angel, a former friend of Crooks.
Before the jury returned from an eight-hour deliberation, Crooks sat with her hands folded at her mouth, staring at the door through which the judge would enter. Dittman sat in the back row, in the corner of the courtroom, arms folded across her chest, staring at the empty jury box.
Crooks' father, Richard Heberling, currently has custody of Autumn and Crooks' other child, which was born in Oct.
Dittman said she will seek a private attorney to pursue her case to gain custody of Autumn. "I don't like Autumn to go to a strange home," Dittman said.
"Oh, gosh, yes! I think justice has been served, most definitely," she said.
"It's been long and hard," Dittman said as her daughter Angel agreed: "Very long."
"I just feel great, like we've won," Dittman said. "Like we've gotten what we want. You can't replace one child with another. There will never be anyone who takes Lois' place."
At the time Lois died, Crooks was living with her boyfriend, Steve Iden, and his two sons. Despite a history of behavioral problems, Iden's younger son, Corey, shared a room with Lois. And Iden's older son said he saw Crooks put a muscle relaxant in Lois' bottle two days before she died.
On the day Lois died, Crooks told police she saw her daughter put cigarette butts in her mouth. Though she removed the butts, Crooks did not call a doctor. And after Lois threw up later that night, Kolbe said the jury could assume that Crooks put Valium in the bottle she gave her to help her sleep.
But defense attorney Jay Rigdon said the state's evidence was all circumstantial. Crooks didn't call a doctor after she saw the cigarette butts in her daughter's mouth because she didn't realize her daughter had swallowed any.
Rigdon also pointed out that a forensic pathologist, who testified Thursday morning, said the butts were not toxic and would have eventually left the girl's system on their own.
There also is no proof Crooks put any drugs in her daughter's bottle, either the night she died or any other night, Rigdon said. The Valium got into the child's system somehow, but Rigdon said not necessarily from Crooks.
He wasn't available for comment after the verdict.
'A big part of this problem was the environment,' Kolbe said. '(We need to) teach kids the immense responsibility of being a parent and the cost involved in multiple relationships and children.' [[In-content Ad]]
"Lois got justice," Vicki Dittman said after Kristina Crooks was found guilty of all three counts of neglect and reckless homicide.
Crooks, 20, was charged in the Jan. 24, 1996, death of her 11-month-old daughter Lois Marie Ozenbaugh. The baby died after choking on her own vomit. An autopsy found six cigarette butts in the baby's stomach and Valium in her blood.
When Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed read the first guilty verdict, Crooks closed her eyes and began to cry. As he read the next two guilty verdicts, her head sank lower and her sobbing became louder. While the judge read his final words, Crooks continued to cry.
She was released on her current bond and ordered to appear for sentencing on Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m.
Crooks faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence for the three convictions of neglect, a Class D felony; neglect causing serious bodily injury, resulting in death, Class B felony; and reckless homicide, Class C felony.
"I think justice has been served," Kosciusko County Det. Thomas Brindle said after the verdict. He was the lead investigator in the case and assistant to prosecutor David Kolbe.
"I am gratified the jury made a statement of how we address homes and parents who are neglectful," Kolbe said. "I am proud of the jury."
Kolbe said he was not suprised by the verdict because he believed the state would win the case. However, he was surprised by the conviction on the reckless homicide charge because it was the hardest case to prove.
"There is a lot of evidence you didn't hear in there," Kolbe said about the trial. He said that evidence of abuse and neglect of Autumn Crooks, Kristina's other daughter, was not admissable in the trial. However, he will bring it up during sentencing. "There is no way to say what I'll ask for," he said about the sentence he will request.
"This shows we value the weakest element of our community and will take any step we can to protect them," Kolbe said of the guilty verdicts.
"We as a county need to take a harder look at the housing we tolerate," Kolbe said. He also said he would continue to focus on abstinance, parental training and support of the child-welfare program.
"Kristina Crooks is a victim of a dysfunctional environment herself," Kolbe said.
Dittman had cared for Lois and Autumn for more than eight months when Crooks told Dittman she could no longer take care of the girls. Crooks took the girls back from Dittman less than one month before Lois died. When the guilty verdicts were read, Dittman began to cry and hug her daughter Angel, a former friend of Crooks.
Before the jury returned from an eight-hour deliberation, Crooks sat with her hands folded at her mouth, staring at the door through which the judge would enter. Dittman sat in the back row, in the corner of the courtroom, arms folded across her chest, staring at the empty jury box.
Crooks' father, Richard Heberling, currently has custody of Autumn and Crooks' other child, which was born in Oct.
Dittman said she will seek a private attorney to pursue her case to gain custody of Autumn. "I don't like Autumn to go to a strange home," Dittman said.
"Oh, gosh, yes! I think justice has been served, most definitely," she said.
"It's been long and hard," Dittman said as her daughter Angel agreed: "Very long."
"I just feel great, like we've won," Dittman said. "Like we've gotten what we want. You can't replace one child with another. There will never be anyone who takes Lois' place."
At the time Lois died, Crooks was living with her boyfriend, Steve Iden, and his two sons. Despite a history of behavioral problems, Iden's younger son, Corey, shared a room with Lois. And Iden's older son said he saw Crooks put a muscle relaxant in Lois' bottle two days before she died.
On the day Lois died, Crooks told police she saw her daughter put cigarette butts in her mouth. Though she removed the butts, Crooks did not call a doctor. And after Lois threw up later that night, Kolbe said the jury could assume that Crooks put Valium in the bottle she gave her to help her sleep.
But defense attorney Jay Rigdon said the state's evidence was all circumstantial. Crooks didn't call a doctor after she saw the cigarette butts in her daughter's mouth because she didn't realize her daughter had swallowed any.
Rigdon also pointed out that a forensic pathologist, who testified Thursday morning, said the butts were not toxic and would have eventually left the girl's system on their own.
There also is no proof Crooks put any drugs in her daughter's bottle, either the night she died or any other night, Rigdon said. The Valium got into the child's system somehow, but Rigdon said not necessarily from Crooks.
He wasn't available for comment after the verdict.
'A big part of this problem was the environment,' Kolbe said. '(We need to) teach kids the immense responsibility of being a parent and the cost involved in multiple relationships and children.' [[In-content Ad]]