A 2-year-old girl killed while in state foster care died of “blunt force trauma to the abdomen,” the Henry County coroner told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday.
Coroner Donald Cleveland would not elaborate on that finding from the autopsy on Laila Marie Daniel, which may not be released for months.
Jennifer Rosenbaum, the woman who had been caring for Laila in foster care, has been charged with murder and child abuse in connection with the child’s death on Nov. 17. Her husband, Joseph, has been charged with child abuse.
The arrest warrant for Jennifer Rosenbaum said she killed the girl by striking the child in the abdomen “with such force the child’s pancreas was transected. The child was believed to enter shock due to the blood loss resulting from the injury.”
Authorities say the girl also had bruises on her body, and evidence of breaks in her arms and legs. The Rosenbaums also abused her sister, Millie Place, authorities said.
The Rosenbaums’ attorney, Corinne Mull, said the couple never abused the children. She said Laila died after Jennifer Rosenbaum applied the Heimlich maneuver and CPR to help the child while she was choking on some chicken. She said the force of the compressions may have caused the injury to the pancreas.
Mull attributed the children’s other injuries to either abuse prior to their stay with the Rosenbaums or the general bumps and bruises of childhood play.
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