A Warsaw woman was sentenced this morning for an August death of a baby in her care. Dana Shell, 43, Warsaw, appeared in Superior Court 1 before Judge Duane Huffer and was sentenced to eight years in the Indiana Department of Corrections with six years suspended to be served on probation, after entering a guilty plea to one count of reckless homicide, a class C felony. Representing Shell was attorney Michael L. Miner. Shell was arrested in October following an investigation stemming from the August 6 death of an infant she was caring for. On Aug. 6 at 1:39 p.m., Warsaw Police Department responded to a 911 call at a residence in the 900 block of South Union Street. An unresponsive 18-month-old child, Peyton Brettell, was being cared for by Shell. Brettell was transported to Kosciusko Community Hospital by Multi-Township EMS, and efforts to revive him were not successful. He was pronounced dead at 2:13 p.m. by hospital staff and the Kosciusko County coroner. At the time of the incident, 11 other children were in the home, two of which were direct relatives of Shell. Initial information supplied by Shell was not consistent with the child’s injuries, according to authorities. An autopsy performed at the Northeast Forensic Center in Fort Wayne ruled the child’s death accidental, from “positional asphyxia,” caused by the partial strapping of the child in a car seat used in the home. “A child was entrusted to your care,” Judge Huffer told Shell during sentencing. “The baby is gone because of your act.” When asked by Huffer if she had anything to say to the court, Shell stated, “I just want to say I’m so sorry. I’d never hurt anyone intentionally. I loved that baby and I love the family and I know saying I’m sorry doesn’t mean anything right now but I truly am sorry.”
