Gumm was trying to change Rylan's
diaper and became frustrated when the little girl began squirming
around. She slammed the baby's head on a wooden table, prosecutors said
shortly after Rylan's death in July 2012.
Gumm cried in court today as she
pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and accepted a plea
bargain, the Daily Herald reported.
She will serve her sentence at the
Illinois Department of Corrections and will receive credit for the 1,299
days she has spent in Lake County Jail since her arrest.
'Sarah took this deal, not because
she was guilty, but because she couldn't find a way to win if it went to
trial,' her husband James Gumm told the Daily Herald. 'Sarah is not a
murderer.'
An autopsy revealed that 'an extreme
amount of force' must have been used to cause Rylan's injuries, Lake
County Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz said at the time of her
death.
Rylan’s parents, Nathan and Reggan
Koopmeiners, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, dropped their daughter off at Gumm’s
home in Waukegan at about 6:45am on July 27, 2012.
At about 4:30pm, Gumm called the
police and reported that the little girl was not breathing. Rylan was
rushed to Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan, where she was
pronounced dead shortly after 5 pm.
Gumm had initially told police that
the three-month-old had been sleeping when she heard a ‘gurgling noise’
and noticed that the baby seemed to be in distress, prompting her to
call 911.
While Gumm told investigators that
she was home all day, one of her neighbors spotted the 33-year-old woman
leaving alone in a taxi that afternoon.
Fisz also said that authorities
discovered that Gumm used her credit card twice at a local drugstore
that day before calling police.
During a second interview with the
police, Gumm allegedly admitted to going to the pharmacy and leaving the
baby unsupervised at home. Fisw said Gumm then admitted to causing the
baby’s injuries.
‘She also told police that later in the afternoon the baby was getting very fussy and squirming around while she was trying to change her on a wooden table,’ Fisz said. ‘She was holding the child up above the table. She got frustrated.’
Rylan's parents hired Gumm six weeks prior to the tragic incident after seeing an advertisement for her services online.
They were present for the plea
announcement and thanked the prosecution team in a statement read in
court, the Chicago Tribune reported.
'We are grateful to God some form of earthly justice has been served for Rylan,' they said. 'To Rylan, we love you every moment of the day, baby girl.'
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