Father
charged in shaking death of Rexburg baby
Byline: Warren
Cornwall
Published:
04/21/98
A
Rexburg man has been charged with the murder of his infant son, several days
after police were called to a trailer park and told the baby wasn't breathing.
Benjamin David Genther, 19, appeared in magistrate court in Madison County
Monday on a charge of first-degree murder. Four days earlier, his son, William
Brandis Genther died in a Salt Lake City hospital from injuries police indicate
the child suffered from being violently shaken.
Police say they had not heard any previous abuse allegations involving the
2-and-a-half-month-old boy. But Benjamin Genther's stepmother said she had been
concerned about the child's welfare since shortly after his birth to the
teen-age parents. Gleneen Genther said she had previously told officials at the
local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that she feared the child
would get hurt.
''I told welfare (state Department of Health and Welfare officials) in there
that I had expressed to the bishop and the Relief Society president that I was
afraid for the child's life,'' she said Monday evening.
Gleneen Genther said her fears were sparked by the exhaustion and inexperience
of the teen-age parents, and their unwillingness to seek child-rearing advice
from her and her husband.
''I felt like they were 10-year-olds trying to raise a baby,'' she said of
Benjamin Genther and the 17-year-old mother, who hasn't been charged.
The Relief Society president, whom Genther wouldn't name, visited her home
several times to meet with the young parents, said Genther. But the teen-age
parents were never at home.
The couple had lived with Gleneen Genther and her husband for the first few
weeks after the child was born. According to Genther, they then moved in with
friends and finally rented the trailer where police were called early last
Thursday.
Genther said her stepson appeared to be exhausted from staying up late with the
child. He even blacked out while working with her husband on April 13, she said.
''I just felt like he was tired and exhausted all the time,'' she said.
The couple married at the end of May 1997, said Genther. Both had dropped out of
Madison High School in Rexburg, but were attending some classes at an
alternative high school this year, she said.
Rexburg Police Chief Lynn Archibald would provide few details about the
circumstances surrounding the child's death. An officer called to the trailer
the morning of April 16 found the child wasn't breathing, and began trying to
resuscitate him. The infant was taken to Madison Memorial Hospital where he was
stabilized. He was then flown to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake
City, Utah, where he died Friday afternoon.
Physicians at Madison Memorial first told police they found injuries consistent
with shaken baby syndrome, Archibald said. An autopsy later strengthened those
suspicions, leading police to formally charge Genther for murder, Madison County
prosecutor Sid Brown said.
Violent shaking can cause the child's brain to bounce against the inside of the
skull, leading to bruising, bleeding and swelling of the brain, according to
information provided by the National Institutes of Health, a federal agency.
Young children are particularly vulnerable to the injuries because their necks
are weak and the blood vessels connecting the skull and the brain are fragile.
The injuries can cause severe brain damage and death, according to the
Institutes.
But Archibald said police continue to investigate the death, in part to find out
if anyone knew of the abuse earlier.
The child had previously been seen by physicians for other injuries, Archibald
said. Gleneen Genther said the child had been taken to the hospital at least
once before. Her husband told her that the little boy was hurt after the father
accidentally kneeled on the child, she said.
The accused teen will next appear in magistrate court for a preliminary hearing,
where a judge decides if there is sufficient evidence to bind him over to
District Court. It's only then Genther would be asked to enter a plea concerning
the charges.
His stepmother said she did not know what led directly to the child's death. But
she was angered over the troubling circumstances surrounding the baby's short
life.
''I'm just angry and devastated that it had to happen,'' she said.
