LOUIS and ANNABELLE WINES - 18 months and 6 months (2009) - Magnolia AR

Magnolia - A Columbia County mother was arrested Friday after the state medical
examiner ruled her two children did not die by accident.



Dawn Marie Wines, 22, was taken into custody near New Orleans after allegedly
suffocating both of her children. 18-month-old Louis Wines died in August. His
six-month-old sister Annabelle died in October, just 11 days after a judge
ordered she be returned to the custody of her mother against the wishes of the
Department of Human Services.
Friday's arrest affidavit shows autopsies on Louis and Annabelle concluded that
both children died from suffocation.

Judge Larry Chandler had no comment about Wines' arrest or his decision to return the infant to her care.

A woman who lives in the Taylor community southwest of Magnolia has been charged
with two counts of capital murder in the smothering deaths of her two children
last year.

Columbia County Deputy Prosecutor David Butler said
the charges accuse Dawn Marie Wines of suffocating her two children.

Wines is currently being held by authorities in New Orleans
after she was arrested at a residence in Luling, La. Butler said Wines has
waived extradition, and deputies are making arrangements to return Wines to
Columbia County where she is expected to make her first appearance next week.


A news release from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said no bond has been set
for Wines "due to the severity of the crimes."

A 22-year-old south Arkansas woman has plead not guilty to capital
murder charges in the suffocation deaths of her two children.
Dawn Marie Wines of Taylor entered the plea Thursday in Columbia
County Circuit Court in Magnolia. She's accused of smothering her
18-month-old son Louis last August and her 6-month-old daughter
Annabelle in October.
The deaths were not ruled homicides until last month. Wines was
arrested last week in Luling, La.
A mental evaluation has been ordered for Wines and a public defender
will be appointed to represent her.

A south Arkansas prosecutor will seek the death penalty against a
mother accused of killing her two children.
Joshua Wines, the father of the murdered children, was in the
courtroom when the announcement was made. Afterward, he told reporters
if his wife is found guilty he will not only accept, but support
the death penalty.
"I have no sympathy whatsoever. You know, you take the life of a child,
there should be no other sentence but death."
After 18 month-old Louis Wines' suspicious death back in August, Wines said
he had no suspicions of his wife, Dawn Marie Wines, 22. Their infant
daughter Annabelle was still put into foster care by the Department of
Human Services.
"I had no suspicions at all because I was told that Louis died from an
acute asthma attack."
Wines said he had been told that by Carla Reyes, Annabelle's attorney.
60 days later, there was not enough evidence to keep Dawn away from her then six-month old
daughter so DHS attorneys dropped the case. 11 days later, Annabelle
was dead. Mere days after that, Josh claims Dawn was partying in New
Orleans on Bourbon Street.
"You might know something happened, but you have to have the evidence to
build up and also to obtain a probable cause warrant."
Ultimately, the medical examiner determined Louis was smothered, and it appears
Annabelle was as well. Dawn had been prescribed an antidepressant. The
same drug was found in the infant's system.
"She got put on it for postpartum depression. Then when she got
pregnant with Annabelle they took her off it and she seemed fine. She
didn't show any signs of depression at all."
Joshua Wines says that while DHS and a judge had only 60 days to find his
wife unfit, the crime lab could take as long as necessary to find out
what caused the death of his son. That difference in deadlines, he
believes, cost Annabelle her life.
According to an arrest affidavit released Thursday, Dawn confessed to killing her two
children but she still entered a plea of not guilty. She will now
undergo a mental evaluation at the state hospital in Little Rock.
Meanwhile, Josh says his family, his job and
therapy sessions are helping him deal with the loss of his children and
the possibility that their mother might be responsible for their
deaths.

This man acts like he has no responsibility in this. I disagree. He knew the suspicions of LE. He knew his wife's condition. WTH did he do? He didn't have to wait for toxicology tests.

He doesn't get my sympathy. His dead children do, none left for him,.

Murderous Mom Gets Two Life Sentences
September , 20, 2010

Updated Thursday, September 30, 2010 7:25 PM EST
By Jason Pederson



Magnolia

She ended the lives of her children.

Now a murderous mother will spend the rest of her life in prison.

Dawn Marie Wines agreed Wednesday morning to serve a pair of consecutive life sentences in prison rather than risk having a jury sentence her to death.

Nearly a year ago we were contacted by family members of two dead children in Columbia County who were concerned that justice was not being served.

Those concerns have now been eased.

22 year-old Dawn Marie Wines apparently didn't want to be a mother anymore. So for the rest of her life she will have a new title: inmate.

"She has two very experienced trial attorneys who advised her that with the combination of her statements and the evidence and her being the one on watch when the children died that there was a good chance hat she could suffer the consequences of life without parole or the death penalty," explains Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Butler.

In August of last year 18 month-old Louis Wines died. He was in the custody of his mother at the time.

Police had suspicions that could not be proven. "There was no markings on the child," says Butler. "Sometimes on a suffocation case you've got markings on the ribs or the legs where they were holding the child down. That did not exist here."

The state took Wines' infant daughter while Louis' death was investigated. The girl was kept for as long as the law allows (60 days), but with no criminal charges Dawn Wines eventually got 6 month-old Annabelle back.

Two weeks later Annabelle was dead too.

"I've tried lots and lots of murder cases and this is the one that saddens me the most because you have two innocent, helpless children and
there is nothing I can do for them," laments Butler.

No explanation for why Dawn Wines killed her children has ever been given, but it seems clear she would have gotten away with the first murder if the second murder had not occurred.

Air date: September 15^th, 2010