US couple charged with first-degree murder of helpless and sick Russian baby

As it was previously reported, a Russian child adopted by the US family died in the USA. Fyodor and Kimberly K. Emelyantsev adopted a Russian boy, Nikolai, aged only 14 months, in February of the current year. The adoptive parents already have several children. The adoptive father, Fyodor, holds the Russian citizenship.

Photo: US couple charged with first-degree murder of helpless and sick Russian baby

Prosecutors in the town of Tooele, Utah, filed charges against the 33-year-old stepmother of the adoptive child, Kimberly K. Emelyantsev. Her husband, Fyodor Emelyantsev, 31, is under investigation too.

The little boy died at Primary Children’s Medical Center on March 7, 2008. A police officer said that Fyodor Emelyantsev died 911 on March 6 and said that his child was having problems with breathing. When the police arrived, they saw that the child was hardly breathing. The officers paid attention to the baby’s unusual complexion. The baby was taken to the above-mentioned hospital, where he subsequently died.

Mr. Emelyantsev told the police that he was working at his computer when his wife entered the room holding the baby boy in her arms. The man said that the child had fallen down on the floor and received a serious injury. However, he did not see or hear anything, the man said.

Medics concluded that the child had died from a skull fracture. Numerous bruises were found on the baby’s cheeks, head, ears and left leg.

Prosecutors say that the child could not receive such injuries as a result of a fall. A forensic expert said that the child had been murdered.

Emelyantsevs’ neighbors do not believe that the adoptive parents could kill their little baby. They say that the couple was so eager to adopt a Russian baby that they had to raise a loan in a bank to afford a trip to Russia.

Also read: US woman faces capital punishment for killing Russian boy

The couple has three other children aged 10, 5 and 2 years old. They all have been delivered to the Emelyantsevs’ relatives. Another four-year child, whom the couple adopted shortly before Chritsmas, has been hospitalized three times due to dehydration and exhaustion. The baby was malnourished. Hospital nurses said that the baby weighed only 9 kilos.

Both of the adopted children were born with Down syndrome. In addition, Kimberly’s ten-year-old daughter suffers from this sickness too. Fyodor underwent a special training in Russia to work with disabled children.

Fyodor is a hospital attendant. His wife was an assistant attorney, but she quit her job to take care of the kids.

The couple has been charged with criminal negligence which led to the exhaustion of the second adoptive child.

The husband and wife were jailed on March 12. The court hearings on the case will take place on April 29. Kimberly K. Emelyantsev can be released on 500,000-dollar bail.

It is worthy of note that it became the 12^th incident (reported from 1991 till 2007) of violent death among children adopted by US families from Russia. The children died because of adoptive parents’ fault in all of those incidents.

The Ministry for Education and Science of the Russian Federation demanded changes should be made in the federal law to protect Russian orphans adopted by foreign families.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru