EMILY BARTLESON - 2 yo - Kansas OK

A child was found unresponsive Monday at a home in the area of
Kansas, Oklahoma in Delaware County. Officials have determined the
victim, a two-year-old girl, was a victim of Shaken Baby Syndrome and
suffered severe cerebral edema and shock.

Authorities say Roger L. Dry, 29, of Kansas, was watching the child at the time she was found unresponsive. According
to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office, Dry said he was upset with the
child when she began crying and wouldn't stop. Dry told authorities he
spanked the girl and shook her. The child, belonging to his
girlfriend, Mary Bartleson, returned and discovered the baby on a bed. Bartleson
left the child in Dry's care while she took her other child to school,
according to reports. When she returned, she called emergency services. Cherokee
Nation Ambulance, Oaks, Oklahoma first responders, along with a deputy
with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office arrived at the scene and the
baby was transported by Air Evac to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa. The child was pronounced dead shortly before 3 p.m. Monday. Roger L. Dry was arrested and transported to the Delaware County Jail, where he remains. The
case is under investigation by the Delaware County Sheriff's Office and
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Office of Chief Medical
Examiner.

$1 million bail set for man charged in shaken-baby death

Roger L. Dry, 35, of Kansas, Okla., has been formally charged with first-degree murder. Bond is set at $1 million, authorities said.

By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent
Published: 9/2/2009 1:23 PM
Last Modified: 9/2/2009 7:38 PM

JAY — A Delaware County man remains in jail with bail set at $1 million in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, District Attorney Eddie Wyant said Wednesday.

Roger L. Dry, 35, of Eucha is charged in Delaware County District Court with first-degree murder. He is set to be arraigned Thursday, Wyant said.

The child, identified as Emily Hernandez, died Tuesday at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa of shaken-baby syndrome after being on life support for a day, a police affidavit states.

Emily was flown by helicopter to the hospital after authorities received a 911 call shortly after 9 a.m. Monday.

According to the affidavit, Dry told authorities that he was watching the toddler at his rural Colcord home while his girlfriend, Mary Bartleson, took Emily’s sibling to school. Emily began crying and wouldn’t stop, so Dry spanked and shook her, he told authorities.

When Emily continued to cry, Dry spanked her, “telling her to shut up and be quiet,” the affidavit states. The toddler then vomited on Dry, so he shook her violently six or seven times, telling her to stop crying and be quiet, the affidavit alleges.

Emily became quiet, and Dry lay her on the bed on her stomach with a drinking cup, the affidavit states.

Dry said he was in the shower when Bartleson came home and he heard her scream. When he got out of the shower, he said, he saw Bartleson holding Emily in her arms and yelling that she wasn’t breathing, the affidavit states.

Beth Scott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services,
said she could not say whether Bartleson’s other child had been removed from the home or if there had been any previous DHS investigations.

Court records show that Dry pleaded guilty in 2005 to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and possession of marijuana and received a one-year suspended sentence. Also that year, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication and received a one-year deferred sentence, records show.

In 1996, Dry received a deferred sentence on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and was fined for transporting an open container of beer, records show.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20090902_12_0_JAYADe545440

Donation of girl's organs comforts bereaved mom

Emily Hernandez: Two Texas children received her kidneys and liver. .

By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent
Published: 1/26/2010 2:26 AM
Last Modified: 1/26/2010 5:37 AM

KANSAS, Okla. — For Mary Bartleson, most of the days since her daughter died at age 2 are just unbearable, but she receives some comfort in knowing that her child's organs are helping other children live.


Bartleson said she often replays in her mind the circumstances surrounding the September death of her daughter, Emily Hernandez. Prosecutors allege that Bartleson's former boyfriend caused the child's death by shaking her in Bartleson's home near the town of Kansas, about 70 miles east of Tulsa.

Bartleson never left her daughter's side after Emily was taken to the hospital. During her vigil, she said, tears of shock, torment and anger flowed for hours.

Emily's brain began to swell, and surgery did not help. As hospital personnel tended to Emily in her final hours, they broached the idea of donating the little girl's organs.

"I was praying, and something inside of me said, 'Maybe I can still help other people,' " Bartleson said.

Six hours after Emily's organs were harvested, Bartleson was notified that two Texas children had received her kidneys and liver.

Bartleson donated Emily's organs through LifeShare Donor Transplant Services, Oklahoma's organ and tissue donation organization.

Phil Van Stavern, director of communications for LifeShare, said Emily's heart valves and tissue also were harvested.

Organs are harvested after brain death while the donor remains on a respirator. That means only a small number of people qualify as donors,
Van Stavern said.

The organs of nine Oklahoma children who died last year were donated, he said. Organs are routinely shared across state lines if an appropriate patient is not found in Oklahoma, he said.

Thirteen Oklahoma children are on the organ donation waiting list, Van Stavern said. Seven are waiting for a liver, and six are waiting for kidneys. Four are younger than 10.

"The biggest misconception about organ donation is that people think if you are sick and the hospital knows you are an organ donor, they do not work as hard to save your life," Van Stavern said. "I cannot stress enough this is totally false."

Emily died Sept. 1 at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa from blunt head trauma after a day on life support.

Roger L. Dry, 35, of Eucha is charged in Delaware County District Court with first-degree murder.

Prosecutors said Dry was alone with Emily when she began to cry, so he spanked her to get her to quit. Court testimony alleges that when Emily vomited on Dry, he struck her, picked her up by the ears and shook her hard six or seven times.

Dry remains in jail on $1 million bail.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20100126_12_A10_KNAOld791775

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Autopsy: Delaware County toddler had more than 50 scrapes and bruises


By SHEILA STOGSDILL World Correspondent
Published: 1/8/2010 10:57 AM
Last Modified: 1/8/2010 10:57 AM

JAY — An autopsy report released Thursday shows a Delaware County toddler had more than 50 scrapes and bruises on her body when she died.


Emily Hernandez, 2, of Kansas, Okla., died Sept. 1 at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa after being on life support for a day.

She died from blunt head trauma, according to the autopsy report.

Roger L. Dry, 35, of Eucha, has been charged in Delaware County District Court with first-degree murder. He is the former boyfriend of the child’s mother, Mary Bartleson.

She had left the child in Dry’s care while she took an older child to school.

Dry remains in jail on $1 million bail and is scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

“The autopsy report could be misinterpreted,” District Attorney Eddie Wyant said.

Hospital workers tried to save the child and in the process left some marks on her body, he said. Wyant said a doctor will testify during Dry’s preliminary hearing as to which marks were made by hospital and emergency workers.

Dry told authorities that while he was alone with the child, she began crying and wouldn’t stop so he spanked and shook her, a court affidavit states.

The toddler vomited on Dry, so he shook her violently several times, then laid Emily on the bed on her stomach, the affidavit states.

Bartleson found the girl unresponsive and not breathing, the affidavit states. A toxicology report showed Emily had Phenytoin, an anticonvulsant, and a trace of
Midazolam, a sedative, in her system.

Cherokee Ballard, state medical examiner office spokeswoman, said a common use for Phenytoin is for epilepsy and head injuries. Midazolam is commonly used by paramedics and anesthesiologists before medical procedures, she said.

Wyant said it is likely the drugs were administered by hospital workers trying to save the child’s life.

A decision on whether to seek the death penalty against Dry will be made after the preliminary hearing, Wyant said.

The child’s organs were donated, according to the autopsy report.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=12&articleid=20100108_12_0_JYAuos815991&allcom=1