This is a very sad story, but an even sadder comment on how overfull our lives are.

http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4788998/15161096.html

Busy mother forgot baby was in van, father says Perry family mourns loss of 'perfect' girl By APRIL GOODWIN Register Staff Writer 06/29/2001 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perry, Ia. - Dennis Engholm, 38, routinely took his infant daughter, Clare, to the baby sitter in the morning, but he had to go to work early Tuesday at Iowa State University.

His wife, Kari, 34, the chief executive officer at Dallas County Hospital in Perry, had a busy day, too. She had a board meeting at 7 a.m. during which board members would agree to sell a medical practice to a doctor whose contract with the hospital was ending. She also was working on plans for a retirement center run by the hospital, set to open this fall.

Kari Engholm always took her 3½-year-old son, Eric, to the child-care center run by the hospital. Tuesday she was supposed to leave Clare at her sitter's house, too. She forgot. Nine hours later, the busy executive found her baby girl dead in the minivan she was driving.

At an emotional news conference Thursday at the Perry couple's church, Dennis Engholm said the family "never could have imagined" this happening.

"Words cannot express the grief and sorrow that our family feels today," he said. "This is a tragic and heartbreaking accident that happened."

He said that 7-month-old Clare was asleep in the van when his wife forgot to drop her off at the baby sitter's. The baby sitter called the Engholms" home at 10 a.m. to ask why the baby had not been dropped off, but Kari Engholm, who already was at work, did not get the message, he said.

"Kari is a loving mother and my best friend," Dennis Engholm said quietly, with tears. "She loved Clare deeply. . . . She is devastated and grief-stricken."

Dennis Engholm described his baby girl as "perfect."

"She had just started crawling and had two teeth. . . . She wasn't even fussy when she was teething."

"A nightmare"

Kari Engholm's sister and Clare's godmother, Diane Van Wyngarden of Des Moines, also spoke at the news conference.

"There was a devastating and tragic accident - a nightmare that no family can imagine," she said.

The Rev. Ray Higgins, priest at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Perry, said Kari Engholm had a lot on her mind Tuesday.

First, there was the change in the couple's routine, which forced Kari Engholm to drop off both children before an early morning hospital board meeting.

At the meeting the board would decide to sell the Green Street Clinic medical practice in Adel to Dr. Susan Donahue for $55,000 - a decision prompted by criticism that the hospital was not renewing Donahue's contract. Her patients signed petitions and hung signs around Adel in May because they feared they would lose Donahue's services when her contract ends July 31.

Second project

Kari Engholm also was supervising the hospital's launch of an independent and assisted-living apartment complex in Perry, called Spring Valley Retirement Community, set to open this fall.

David Werning, spokesman for the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, said state inspectors found no significant problems in May at the hospital. The facility has 25 beds and 125 employees.

There have never been any particular problems with or recent complaints about the hospital, Werning said. Nor were there any at Humboldt County Memorial Hospital, where Kari Engholm was an administrator before moving to Perry two years ago.

When Kari Engholm left work Tuesday about 5:40 p.m., she drove the few blocks to the Perry child-care center to pick up her son. She discovered the baby in the back seat when she opened the door to let Eric in the van, which is registered to Dallas County Hospital.

Kari Engholm ran inside the center and child-care workers called 911. They also called Dennis Engholm at work and Janice Summerson, a close friend of Kari Engholm's.

Summerson stayed with Kari Engholm until her husband arrived. She said Kari Engholm's grief for those 45 minutes was unequalled by any she had witnessed.

"I've never seen the depth of sadness she showed," Summerson said. "It was truly a mistake."

Kari Engholm was so busy, with so much on her mind, Summerson said. "The woman simply forgot, she was so consumed. . . . She's the CEO of a business."

Not frazzled

Summerson said Kari Engholm was especially busy that day, but not frazzled. Kari Engholm never got frazzled, she said. Summerson talked to her on the telephone briefly about the upcoming raffle at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and Kari Engholm said, "We'll talk next week, I've got to go."

"I have always known Kari as being a calm, cool, collected, composed, methodical individual," Summerson said. "I guess I've always known she's a very gentle-natured soul."

Perry Police Chief Dan Brickner said the department is investigating the death.

Dr. Dennis Klein, deputy state medical examiner, said the death would be declared an accident on the child's death certificate. Klein, who conducted an autopsy Wednesday, said the baby died of hyperthermia, or elevated body temperature, after being left in the van for several hours.

Brickner said just because the cause of death was declared accidental did not exclude the possibility that police would file charges. He said whether charges would be filed hinged upon Dallas County Attorney Wayne Reisetter's interpretation of the case.

Reisetter is on vacation this week, but said Wednesday criminal charges are possible. Child-protection workers were in Perry Tuesday investigating, he said.

"We're cooperating with police," Dennis Engholm said at Thursday's news conference. "We hope they realize this was truly an accident."

Leave of absence

Kari Engholm took a leave of absence from her work. Dennis Engholm is a computer supervisor at Iowa State University.

Hospital officials said Clare Engholm was born Nov. 3, 2000. She would have been 8 months old next month.

Funeral services for friends, family and parishioners will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Hastings Funeral Home in Perry is handling arrangements.

Des Moines police reported getting at least two calls on Thursday about children left alone in cars.

One report was made in the 3800 block of Ingersoll Avenue at 12:26 p.m. and the other in the 1500 block of East Locust Street at 12:39 p.m.

Police said that despite the reports, they did not find children left alone at either location.

Officials said awareness of lethal consequences may have been heightened following the death of Clare Engholm.

-- Anonymous, June 29, 2001

Answers

After re-reading this article, I can't help but wonder how she did not see the baby when she took the 3 yr old out at his daycare?

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2001

One would assume that she forgot about her shortly after that.

Very strange incident. With the recent mess of stories about mothers killing or attempting to kill their kids, I can't help but wonder if this was her way of doing it...

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2001

Beckie, I used to live with a divorced mom like that -- for a short period during college, I exchanged occasional child care and house cleaning for room and board. Her major problem was sleep deprivation. After being up for a day or two, she did the dumbest things! Two examples were leaving a pizza in the oven for six hours (she put it in at lunch and I found it when I got home at dinner time) and turning up the heat to 100 degrees ("to take the chill out of the air") and then leaving for the rest of the day. I regularly checked the ironing board to be sure the iron was unplugged. The daycare and I were raising her daughter.

I suspect the woman in your article, Beckie, was suffering from sleep deprivation. To me, that doesn't excuse her behavior; I'm sure there were many signs that she was over-loaded. And didn't her husband notice? Or was he over-loaded, too? Sad. Very sad.

-- Anonymous, June 30, 2001