Little Lois' Mom Jailed

The teen-age mother of an 11-month-old who died mysteriously is facing criminal charges in connection with her child's death.

Kristina Ann Crooks, 19, of 7280 N. Blacks Trailer Court, North Webster, was booked into Kosciusko County Jail Monday. She is preliminarily charged with neglect of a dependent and reckless homicide. Crooks is being held on $100,000 bond.

The charges come in the wake of a toxicology report that found six cigarettes in the infant's stomach and Valium in her blood.

Larry Ladd, Kosciusko County coroner, released a report Monday stating that Lois Marie Ozenbaugh's death was the result of aspiration of the stomach due to the ingestion of cigarette butts. In layman's terms, the child vomited and choked on her stomach's contents.

The toxicology report revealed that while no nicotine was present Valium was found and, Ladd said, is believed to have contributed to the child's death.

"Our belief, in this situation, is that the Valium was the contributing cause in probably two ways," said David Kolbe, Kosciusko County prosecutor. "First, Valium is a sedative, so it tended to subdue the child's capacity to regurgitate and move around. Second, the Valium probably caused a degree of nausea, as did the cigarettes.

Kolbe would not speculate how the child came to ingest the cigarettes."

In a press conference this morning Kolbe estimated that the child died within five to six hours of ingesting the cigarettes. The prosecutor said he was unsure how the child ingested the Valium.

Kolbe said the infant's body allegedly showed other signs of abuse.

"There were bruises about her body, most of the bruises were somewhat dated," said Kolbe. The prosecutor said the bruises were on her legs, back and torso area. He indicated that the bruises came within the last few weeks of the infant's life.

"Miss Crooks has given about three to four statements, none contained a clear confession," said Kolbe. "I don't want to go into a lot of detail about what she has said, but I think that it is clear that they are somewhat conflicting.

"It is my understanding that she admitted during the course of at least one interview that she observed the child eating cigarettes the day before the morning that she died," said Kolbe.

"The statements tended to have a certain degree of conflict as the case unfolded," he said.

"The Valium in and of itself was not at such a toxic level to cause her death. As I understand it, it certainly had an effect on her system and had an effect on her capacity to move around; she was sedated, essentially," he said.

"I want to point out that the blood test revealed no level of nicotine in the blood stream," said Kolbe. Originally the prosecutor thought the child might have suffered nicotine poisoning.

Kolbe addressed another twist in Crooks' case: her rumored pregnancy.

"Well, we had heard the rumor that Mrs. Crooks is pregnant," he said. "If she is, she will receive the best care we have.

"Should she be released I hope she would solicit the best care available privately. Should she be placed in the department of corrections I am certain that the child, if everything goes well, will be placed in foster care."

Kolbe said investigators found that Lois' sister, Autumn, suffered no abuse.

"The manner of death of Lois Marie Ozenbaugh has been officially determined to be homicide," Ladd said in his press release. The coroner said it is important to note in this case that homicide is not interchangeable with murder.

Ladd pointed out that homicide is death due to the action of another person, which could include criminal negligence.

Crooks was scheduled for her preliminary hearing this morning in Kosciusko Circuit Court.

Reckless homicide is class C felony and neglect of a dependent is a class B felony. Depending on the circumstances of the case, Crooks could serve up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Kolbe said that neglect of a dependent is usually a class D felony, but was upgraded to class B because of the child's death.

Also attending the press conference this morning was the woman who cared for Lois and her sister, Autumn, for 10 months prior to Lois' death.

Vickie Dittman, Warsaw, cared for the girls Crooks left with her.

Dittman took over care of the children full time after Crooks asked her to do so.

After 10 months, Crooks returned to the Dittman home and demanded the return of her children. Lois died three weeks later.

Dittman was interviewed by five area television stations that had news crews at the press conference.

Dittman said she still has all the girls' belongings because they left her home in only their pajamas and winter coats.