Dunbar women accused in 9-year-old’s death appear in court
The two Dunbar defendants accuse in the death of a 9-year-old girl in Fayette County last year appeared in separate court hearings Thursday.
Sarah Shipley, 36, was scheduled for an omnibus pretrial motion hearing Thursday afternoon while Kourtney Eutsey, 32, had a status conference in the morning.
They are charged in the September death of Renesmay Eutsey, as well as the abuse and neglect of two other children who were in their care.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele filed a notice of aggravating circumstances in their cases in November, which would allow him to seek the death penalty if they are convicted.
In Kourtney Eutsey’s case, Fayette Common Pleas Judge Linda Cordaro set a follow-up pretrial conference on Sept. 23.
Phyllis Jin, who became Kourtney Eutsey’s attorney in June, said Thursday she had done an initial reading of the discovery material turned over by the prosecution.
“It’s a very lengthy discovery, and it’s a very complicated case, and it’s a serious case,” she said.
“But I’ll meet the judge’s deadline for July 30 pretrial motions.”
Aubele said it was too early to say if he would be filing pretrial motions of his own. He anticipated the defense filing motions challenging evidence presented in the case.
“We have to get through those before we can get a trial date,” he said.
Shipley appeared for an omnibus pretrial motion hearing Thursday afternoon. Her attorney, Brent Peck, sought to determine if there was enough evidence for several of the charges, including first- and third-degree homicide charges, aggravated assault and abuse of a corpse.
Forensic pathologist Jennifer Hammers testified at Thursday’s hearing that she believed Renesmay’s primary cause of death was from malnutrition and neglect.
Blunt force trauma, including a blow to the head, appeared to be an indirect cause of death, Hammers said. While none of the injuries individually would have killed her, she said, as a whole, “they caused her to die sooner than she would have from malnourishment or neglect.”
Judge Steve Leskinen scheduled a follow-up hearing on Aug. 3 to allow the defense to file supplemental material.
The two originally reported Renesmay Eutsey missing early on the morning of Sept. 3. After investigators noticed inconsistencies in their stories and after speaking to other children present at the home, they began investigating the death as suspicious, witnesses testified in earlier hearings.
Kourtney Eutsey later drove police to the site on the Youghiogheny River where she had placed Renesmay Eutsey’s body in a garbage bag, weighed down by rocks, according to court testimony.
At earlier hearings, police said Kourtney Eutsey had told them Renesmay died from an infected burn received in a hot bath, and that she had concealed the death out of fear of losing custody of the other children.
Medical personnel who testified said Renesmay had shown evidence of malnutrition and other signs of neglect, as had a 6-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl at the home.
In addition to homicide, Shipley and Kourtney Eutsey are facing a number of charges including aggravated assault, abuse of a corpse, concealing the death of a child, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and tampering with evidence.
Both remain in custody awaiting trial — Kourtney Eutsey in Washington County jail, and Sarah Shipley in Fayette.