Calhoun County MI Archives News.....No Decision On Charges In Drownings July 15, 1988 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robin Ellis August 15, 2008, 3:11 pm Battle Creek Enquirer July 15, 1988 Battle Creek Police do not yet know whether a criminal charge will be sought in the drowning deaths Tuesday of two infants in their baby sitter's home. A decision whether to seek a charge against Keri Wermer, 24, will not be made until the investigation is completed, probably not until early next week, according to Police Sgt. Joe Newman. Wermer was the only adult in the house with 14 children when 10-month-old Amanda Hudson and Angela Reeves, 8 months, drowned in the bathtub, Newman said. Wermer is believed to have been an unlicensed home child-care provider. The other children in the house were 8 months to 7 years old, Newman said. The majority of them were toddlers. Newman said police still are trying to find out how the infants got in the bathtub and how they drowned. Amanda's mother, said she had been happy with Wermer's service. She said she believed that Wermer was taking care of no more than eight child n. Hudson said she checked the sitter' references and was told by Wermer that her home was licensed for child care. Hudson, who said she has not talked to Wermer since her daughter's death; said she has been told several versions of what happened by police and families of other children cared for in the home. "I don't know what I'm going to do," she said. "I do t want to leave my 2-year. old alone, but I have to work." The father of Angela Reeves, said he, his wife, and his three daughters of previous marriage are "hanging in there the best we can." Of the family's children, only Angela was cared for by Wermer, Reeves said. "I've read a little about what the man at (Department o Social Services) said; but they do not have as many homes as they say they do," he said. "The homes that are usually licensed... they want to know how old a child is, and they won't take a child unless it' a year or older." Reeves said he recently questioned Wermer about the number of children she was caring for in her home. "I thought it was eight," he said. "I asked my wife one time and she said she didn't know, but thought it was six to eight. "But a few months back, I got off work early and there were quite a few children there. So I asked Keri, and she said she usually had eight, but some people had just dropped their children off for an hour or two, and that was why there was so many, " I feel , we've been lied to." File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/calhoun/newspapers/nodecisi12nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 3.0 Kb