MICHAEL LEE MCMULLEN - 3 yo - / Convicted: Donella Trainor - Charged: Grandmother, Gale Watkins, and Douglas Garrigus - Lee County, FL

Arrests follow death of child wrapped in blanket

By Marlena Baldacci and Mariano Castillo, CNN
updated 10:21 AM EDT, Wed October 23, 2013


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• A 3-year-old boy dies after being wrapped in a blanket
  
• It was a form of discipline his caretakers called "the wrap"
  
• The adults looking after the boy are charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child 
  

(CNN) -- To discipline a 3-year-old boy, three caretakers would wrap him tightly in a blanket and tie the ends to constrain him.
The child was wrapped up in that manner when he suffered a "horrible death," police said.

Now, the two Florida women and one man who were watching Michael Lee McMullen are in county jail and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

The Lee County, Florida, sheriff's office said it received a call last Saturday about an unresponsive child. Young Michael was transported to a hospital but was pronounced dead within the hour.

The boy was in the care of Donella Trainor, 45; Douglas Garrigus, 21; and the child's grandmother, Gale Watkins, 56, authorities said.

They gave deputies a rudimentary and incomplete version of events, according to the sheriff's office.

The trio told deputies that Michael was having behavioral issues and was put down for a nap. When Trainor went to wake him, she found him covered in sweat and unresponsive.

Follow up talks with the three adults on Tuesday led to their arrests and charges.

Among the details that emerged was that Trainor used a discipline method she called "the wrap," which authorities described as "willful torture (and) malicious punishment."

"She would literally roll a child in a blanket and tie the ends down so as to prevent movement or escape," the sheriff's office said in a news release.

"In my experience, this is not something we see every day," sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Dave Velez told CNN.

Other children were at the home at the time of the incident, Velez said, but he declined to comment on their current whereabouts.

Watkins is Michael's grandmother, Velez said. The relationship between the boy and the other two adults was not immediately known.

According to the sheriff's office, Trainor did the "wrap" on Saturday, placing the child face-down in a crib as he "screamed and pleaded" to be released.

At separate points, all three caretakers entered the room, often to tell Michael he would be released if he calmed down, authorities said. At one point, Garrigus said he could hear the boy crying and hyperventilating, the sheriff's office said.

When Michael stopped crying, Trainor told deputies, she assumed that he had calmed down and was resting. It was later, when she went to wake him, that she found him "soaking wet" and unresponsive, the sheriff's office said.

In addition to aggravated manslaughter of a child, Trainor is also charged with aggravated abuse of a child.

www.cnn.com/2013/.../23/.../index.html?...rss%2Fcnn_latest...

Oh my gosh, they're saddists; how could they? what sick, sick people.  

Yes they are.  There's no telling what torture this poor baby endured before they finally killed him.  This is not the first time they tortured this poor baby boy.  IMO.

Horrifying: Michael McMullen died after being wrapped up in a blanket as a punishment

For full article:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2474876/Babysitters-watched-Michael-Lee-McMullen-3-died-cruel-punishment-called-The-Wrap.html

Poor little angel.  He was gorgeous.  They should all pay with their lives.  William

Just reading what those monsters did to this baby gives me the chills. I cannot fathom what he was going through as they tortured him to death. I wish they would get the same death penalty.

Some people are just evil.  They have no humanity, no conscience, they're just evil.

Babysitter in toddler wrapping death takes plea deal

Published: May 14, 2014 6:18 PM EDT
Updated: May 14, 2014 6:20 PM EDT

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Only WINK News has learned the baby sitter of a 3-year-old boy killed while wrapped in a blanket, will spend 20 years in prison. Donella Trainor pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child.

"I'll never see him again, and I'll never hear him tell me he loves me again," said Samantha Mcmullen, the victim's mother.

Michael McMullen died in October 2013.

Wednesday, his godmother, Donella Trainor, plead no contest in his death.

Deputies say Trainor wrapped him in blankets, tied the ends with rope, and left him struggling for hours, as a form of discipline.

Trainor will now spend 20 years in prison.

Samantha Mcmullen spoke exclusively with WINK News, hours after the plea deal was sealed.

"20 years isn't long enough for the loss of a child," said McMullen.

McMullen says to this day, she still doesn't understand what happened.

"She was a family friend for many many years, it's hurt me either way you look at it," said McMullen.

She was at work, as her son allegedly tried to break free.

"I just remember that smiling happy little boy telling me he loves me and playing with brothers and sister," said McMullen.

McMullen says Trainor was her best friend, and Wednesday's plea was hard to accept.

"Losing a child, that is something you will never get closure from. That's something you can never fix or repair or make better," said McMullen.

But she'll keep looking forward, in memory of Michael, and for her four other children.

"I'm focused on my children, and maintaining a strong family bond between us," said McMullen.

Trainor's 20 year prison sentence will be followed by 10 years probation.

She cannot have unsupervised contact with minors.

Michael's grandmother, Gale Watkins, and stepfather, Douglas Garrigus are also charged.

Deputies say they did nothing to help the boy as he begged to be released. They are behind bars, awaiting trial.

McMullen says she has talked to them, but has never asked them about the night Michael died.

http://www.winknews.com/Local-Florida/2014-05-14/Babysitter-in-toddler-wrapping-death-takes-plea-deal#sthash.d4sB4hmm.dpuf

20 years is not long enough to pay for torturing this poor baby to death.