Winchester girl died 5 hours before parents called for help; was struck in the chest and burned in water
By Cassondra Kirby
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
JANET WORNE
Ten-year-old Michaela Watkins was found dead in her apartment on Memorial Park.Michaela Watkins was dead nearly five hours March 11 before her father and stepmother called authorities, according to testimony in a court hearing Tuesday.
The 10-year-old girl died from blunt-force injuries to the chest caused by an object that the medical examiner likened to a 2-inch by 4-inch piece of lumber, Winchester police Detective James Hall said. The object was swung at high velocity.
The resulting pressure on the chest and lungs caused respiratory problems leading to the girl’s death. Seven of Michaela’s ribs on the left side of her body were broken.
In addition, burns on Michaela’s legs were consistent with someone lifting the girl and setting her in hot water, Hall testified.
The extent of Michaela’s injuries were revealed during a hearing Tuesday for Patrick and Joy Watkins, charged with murder in her death.
The girl’s injuries don’t match the account of the events of March 10 and 11 that the Watkinses told police, Hall said.
Joy Watkins told police she’d gotten into an argument with Michaela March 10, the two wrestled and she slapped Michaela with the back of her hand.
The couple said Michaela also urinated on herself that day.
When they told her to take a bath, they heard her run water and then scream, according to their statements to police. When they ran upstairs, they found Michaela in the tub. As they were helping her get out, she fell and hit her head twice.
From the water, Michaela was burned on her buttocks and the back of her legs, extending to the heels of her feet, the Watkinses said. They didn’t call emergency workers, Hall testified. Instead, Joy Watkins went to CVS Pharmacy and bought some cream for the burns.
At times, the girl had difficulty breathing and slipped in and out of consciousness, according to the couple’s accounts to police. The Watkinses said they had difficulty finding a pulse. But still they didn’t take the girl to the hospital.
“They didn’t do anything,” Hall said. “They packed the family up and went on a picnic to Red River Gorge” the next day.
The Watkinses told police they stayed at the gorge in Powell County for three hours March 11, and on the way back, Michaela continued to drift in and out of consciousness and to have trouble breathing.
When the family returned home to 35 Memorial Park about 2:30 p.m., Michaela went upstairs to use the bathroom, and she fell down the stairs, according to the Watkinses’ account. Her father and stepmother put her in a downstairs bedroom.
Police got the call about an unresponsive child about 3:54 p.m.
When police arrived, rigor mortis had set in, Hall said. The medical examiner estimated that Michaela died at 11 a.m. or earlier March 11, based on her body temperature and the extent of the rigor mortis.
A videotape shows Patrick Watkins at noon March 11 at a Sav-A-Lot in Winchester, buying bread and chips, Hall said.
Besides time of death, the autopsy results dispute the Watkinses’ version of events in other ways. In addition to the chest injury caused by an object swung at high speed, the burns Michaela suffered were not consistent with the bath details offered by the couple. She had no burns to the tops of her feet or legs, as would be expected if she stepped into hot water, Hall said. The burns were severe enough that the skin had peeled away, exposing the flesh underneath.
On March 11, police seized two objects from a vehicle. One was a table leg and the other one was a tobacco stick. Both will be sent to a laboratory for testing, Hall said.
