subscribesubscriber servicescontact usabout ussite mapBuy a Classified
Sat, Nov 07 2009 

Resources

print this story   Print this story
  Post to del.icio.us

Published June 26, 2009 05:49 pm - The man accused in the drowning death of a 2-year-old girl was charged with first degree murder, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said Friday.
Mashburn said Donald Reeser, 29, was charged with first degree murder by using unreasonable force in the drowning death of 2-year-old Allie Croom.


AUDIO: Reeser charged with first degree murder


By M. Scott Carter

Listen to audio from press conference
The man accused in the drowning death of a 2-year-old girl was charged with first degree murder, Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said Friday.

Mashburn said Donald Reeser, 29, was charged with first degree murder by using unreasonable force in the drowning death of 2-year-old Allie Croom.

Croom died Thursday at a Midwest City hospital after an earlier visit to Lake Stanley Draper in southeast Oklahoma City.

"He was so rough with this child in the water that it caused her to drown," Mashburn said during a brief press conference late Friday afternoon. "Whether or not he was trying to kill her or torture her remains to be seen. But either way, he's guilt of murder in the first degree."

Reeser, the boyfriend of Allie Croom's mother, is being held in the Cleveland County Detention Center on a $1 million bond. Mashburn said he decided to file the charges after visiting the crime scene and talking with a witness.

"Based in part on a forensic interview with one of the child witnesses and based on information given to me by the Oklahoma City Police Department, I felt that we had the information necessary to file the charges," he said.

Mashburn said he and "a couple of staff members" from his office went to the crime scene Friday morning. "We took some measurements, looked at some of the information from the Oklahoma City police detectives." He said he also consulted with the medical examiner's office.

Earlier Friday, the state medical examiner ruled that Croom's drowning was the result of a homicide. The medical examiner previously ruled that the child died as a result of asphyxiation by drowning.

The girl's mother claimed Allie was fine when the group left the water. She said after they returned to their car, the child began throwing up water.

Mashburn said that claim didn't agree with the facts. He said the testimony of a 5-year-old witness played a key role in his decision to file murder charges.

"The facts that we have, and the crime scene, do not lead itself to a dry downing situation. The 5-year-old said he saw Reeser -- his biological father -- take the 2-year-old victim into what he called the deeper part, which we now know is about two feet deep. From what he described, (Reeser) continued to drown the victim repeatedly and, as she was screaming, continued to do that until the victim wasn't screaming anymore."

After the child died, Mashburn said, Reeser attempted "to cover his tracks by telling the 5-year-old to say it was an accident."

He said the 5-year-old's testimony corroborated the evidence investigators found at the scene. "We are very confident that, in the evidence that we were able to gain from him, that he did witness what he said he saw. It matches with the other physical evidence at the scene."

While Mashburn said Reeser was the only person he was charging Friday, he said he had not ruled out the possibility of charging others.

"At this point in time that's all the people we're filing charges on today. We have not ruled out the possibility of maybe charging some other people, but I'm not going into to that at this point. Still, as we continue to gather information, certainly, we're going to be looking at anyone else who had a part to play in this and hold them criminally responsible as well."



print this story    email this story   






autoconx
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide

Find a job! Find a Home! Find a car!

Premium Jobs

RECOVERY SUPPORT
SPECIALIST
RSS certification w/Okla Dept of Mental Health req, for busy medication clinic. Req valid OK drivers lic
...>MORE

LPN or RN needed for a fast paced
clinic in Norman. Clinic & triage
experience required. Apply online www.mcbrideclinic.com or
fax resume to
...>MORE

Ross Health Care
Sales Rep
Excellent Pay & Benefits
Call 224-5659
FAX 224-4790
employment@rosshc.com
...>MORE

THERAPIST
Licensed or eligible for supervision. Fax resume w/refs,SS# & Job #09-038 to 632-1976 or mail to :HOPE,...>MORE

Experienced Phone Rep
Are you GREAT on the phone?
Looking for one exp. phone rep.
to set appts.for est. Norman
Hm. Improvemen
...>MORE

TOP PAY &
EXCELLENT
BENEFITS

Orientation at a
Comprehensible Pace!

Fulltime - Shawnee!

...>MORE

See all ads

Premium Homes

See all ads

Premium Extras

See all ads


 

Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.CNHI Classified Advertising NetworkCNHI News Service
Associated Press content © 2009. All rights reserved. AP content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Our site is powered by Zope and our Internet Yellow Pages site is powered by PremierGuide.
Some parts of our site may require you to download the Flash Player Plugin.
View our Privacy Policy
Advertiser index