A couple who prayed as their 11-year-old daughter died of untreated diabetes will be charged with second-degree reckless homicide, a prosecutor said Monday.
"It is very surprising, shocking that she wasn't allowed medical intervention," Marathon County District Attorney Jill Falstad said.
Madeline Neumann, daughter of Dale and Leilani Neumann, died March 23 at the family's rural Weston home. An autopsy determined she died from undiagnosed diabetic ketoacidosis, an ailment that left her with too little insulin in her body.
The Neumanns each face up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Charges were being filed later Monday, Falstad said.
Falstad said the Neumanns have cooperated with investigators and are not under arrest. They have agreed to make an initial court appearance Wednesday, she said.
The couple and their lawyer did not immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.
Leilani Neumann, 40, told AP previously she never expected her daughter to die. The family believes in the Bible, which says healing comes from God, but they have nothing against doctors, she said.
Dale Neumann, a former police officer, has said he has friends who are doctors and started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body.
Madeline, who was being home-schooled, was in good health until she started getting tired about two weeks before she died, her mother has said. When the situation got worse over Easter weekend, "we stayed fast in prayer then," Leilani Neumann said. "We believed that she would recover."
According to a search warrant request, the girl's grandmother told investigators she had been ill for several days, was "very tired," and wanted to be held by her mother. By March 22, Madeline couldn't walk or talk, her grandmother said.
The grandmother said she told Leilani Neumann to take the girl to the doctor but the mother said her daughter "would be fine and God would heal her," the court record said.
The grandmother eventually contacted a daughter-in-law in California, who called police on a non-emergency line to report the girl was in a coma and needed medical help. An ambulance was dispatched to the home shortly before some friends in the home called 911 to report the girl had stopped breathing, authorities said.
The Neumanns said they moved to Weston, a suburb of Wausau in central Wisconsin, from California about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. The couple has three other children, ages 13 to 16.
The family does not belong to an organized religion or faith, Leilani Neumann has said.
In March, an Oregon couple who belong to a church that preaches against medical care and believes in treating illness with prayer were charged with manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. The toddler died March 2 of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection that could have been treated with antibiotics, the state medical examiner's office said.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Comments
1man said, "...please be rational ,logical, and reasonable when making you declarations as to what is truth and what isn't..."
But your rationality requires just as much faith as our belief in God. It relies on the fact the you were tought properly in school and that your brain is using the right electrical signals. Who's to say what you have learned here on earth is right? Your scientists? Your teachers?
Uhhhh 1man. Your comments are apparently addressed to me. Why? What you said makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. To put it another way "What are you talking about????" My comments were in response to "mike." It is "mike" that talked about the pastor of the family. I pointed out to mike that the story said the family was not part of any organized religion or went to church. So your comments make no sense to me. Oh, in case anyone was wondering, I never 'flag" anyone. So it wasn't me who flagged 'mike."
"The grandmother said she told Leilani Neumann to take the girl to the doctor but the mother said her daughter "would be fine and God would heal her," the court record said"
Ok, so who didn't get the right message?
i only pray for every child that has to grow up in a household that, despite whatever relgious beliefs, would disallow them from seeing a doctor and getting medical help. this is not just a christian issue; i am sure it happens in many cities, many countries, numerous families.
to tamna - remember, pastors are the messengers of god & they tell believers to obey & not question the word of god. the pharisees were like that. they were rigid & unreasonable. they condemn people even christ to heal on a sabbath. christ gave a question that what would they do when a child falls into a well on a sabbath. or what does he mean when he said 'be careful about the YEAST OF the pharisees (chief priest).
"christianity is irrational, illogical & unreasonable."...
how is it that you say on one hand it's irrational blah blah blah, yet you use scripture to back up a point you are triing to make? you don't know what you believe. . . .please be rational ,logical, and reasonable when making you declarations as to what is truth and what isn't by sticking with one side of the fence, it sounds like you have gone to church either gotten offended or had some horrible occurrence in life that has left you without any answers and very bitter; I'm sorry for what might have happened to you but to others all we can see from your point of view is venom. Please don't label all Christians that go to church and pastors as mindless automotons blindly being ignorant of reality......please consider what I said.
to tamna - remember, pastors are the messengers of god & they tell believers to obey & not question the word of god. the pharisees were like that. they were rigid & unreasonable. they condemn people even christ to heal on a sabbath. christ gave a question that what would they do when a child falls into a well on a sabbath. or what does he mean when he said 'be careful about the YEAST OF the pharisees (chief priest).
Actually, "Mike" most Christians would wholeheartedly agree with you. To use this tragedy as a vehicle to espouse your own anti-Christian views is simply wrong.
Using your reasoning, I could say that because there are people named "Mike" in prison for terrible crimes - all the people in the world named "Mike" are irrational, illogical and unreasonable.
Also, I guess you missed the part in the story where it says the family is not part of any organized religion or faith. In other words they don't have a Pastor, so I don't know where your comments about "the pastor of this couple" came from....
PAX