A Michigan mother who is facing murder charges after her 20-month-old son died of dehydration is expecting another child, relatives have revealed.
Andrea Todd, 26, and her husband Alexander Birkenmeyer, 30, were both arrested on Monday and charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and second-degree child abuse.
Their son Yurik died in March, three years after the couple’s two-year-old daughter died due to SIDS and ‘unsafe sleep conditions’. They never faced charges.
Now Todd’s cousin has revealed that the couple are expecting their third child at the end of this year. Todd may have to give birth in prison.
Andrea Todd, who is facing murder charges with her husband Alexander Birkenmeyer after the death of their 20-month-old son (all pictured), is pregnant again, relatives revealed
Birkenmeyer, 30, and Todd, 26, were arrested on Monday and charged with murder in the death of their 20-month-old son Yurik due to dehydration
Christina Bates said she only learned ‘a couple of days ago’ that Todd was pregnant again.
‘I’m not sure how I feel about her being pregnant again,’ Bates told the Detroit Free Press.
‘It is really shocking that she is pregnant already.’
Yurik spent most of 2017 in foster care after it was determined that he was at ‘substantial risk of harm’. He was returned to his parents in October.
Less than five months later, Yurik was found dead in his crib.
Authorities said they discovered the child in a ‘very hot room’ at the family’s home in Wyoming on March 16 after receiving a call that Yurik had stopped breathing.
A space heater had been placed next to his bed and there was no water, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Detroit Free Press.
Investigators determined that Birkenmeyer and Todd caused Yurik’s death by the ‘grossly negligent failure to perform legal duty; failure to provide water’.
Todd initially told police that she gave Yurik water and food when she heard him cry after coming home from work on the night before his death.
Todd’s cousin has revealed that the couple are expecting their third child at the end of this year and she may have to give birth in prison. Todd pictured appearing in court via video Tuesday
Both Birkenmeyer and Todd face up to life in prison if they are convicted of the charges. Birkenmeyer is pictured here appearing in court via video on Tuesday
But Todd later admitted she had lied and told police ‘she heard him cry and ignored it’, Wyoming Detective Margaret McKinnon wrote in the affidavit.
Todd told investigators that, on the morning of Yurik’s death, she canceled his doctor appointment and went back to sleep.
When Todd woke up, her son was dead. His death was listed as ‘dehydration due to neglect by caregivers’.
‘He was the cutest little baby,’ Bates said. ‘It was heart-wrenching for our entire family. We loved that little boy.’
Yurik’s death came almost exactly three years after the couple lost their two-year-old daughter in March 2015 due to ‘unsafe sleep conditions’.
Todd initially told police that she gave Yurik water and food when she heard him cry after coming home for work on the night before his death. She later told police that wasn’t true
On the day Yurik died, Todd told police she canceled his doctor’s appointment and fell back asleep. When she woke up, he was dead
They told Child Protective Services that their daughter passed away from SIDS after ‘co-sleeping with Birkenmeyer’, according to court records.
No charges were ever filed.
The couple were then investigated in December 2016 after they left Yurik in the care of an eight-year-old child.
He was taken into protective custody a month later after a CPS worker found the child was at an ‘extremely low weight’ and said his life may be in ‘immediate danger’.
‘Yurik is six months old and weighs 14 pounds and four ounces, which does not register on the growth chart with no medical reason to explain this,’ CPS investigator Kayla Hinkle wrote in a petition to make Yurik a temporary ward of the court.
She found that Yurkin was repeatedly ‘left in an unsafe sleeping environment’ and pictures provided to the court showed him in a bassinet filled with ‘blankets and pillows and a bottle near his head’, according to court records.
Yurik was taken into protective custody for 10 months in January 2017 after a CPS worker found the child was at an ‘extremely low weight’ and said his life may be in ‘immediate danger’
Yurkin died five months after he was released back into the custody of his parents in October
Hinkle also accused Birkenmeyer and Todd of ‘propping bottles to feed him, failing to supervise him appropriately, failing to respond to his needs and failing to engage in services to assist with their parenting and Yurik’s development’.
When Hinkle asked the couple to bring Yurik to a doctor appointment the next day, Birkenmeyer refused and said they would no longer cooperate with CPS.
Yurkin was removed from the couple’s home and placed in the custody of the Kent County Department of Health and Human Services on January 12, 2017.
While he was in foster care, Todd and Birkenmeyer received ‘support and educational programs’ in parenting.
Birkenmeyer and Todd have both pleaded not guilty to their son’s death. They are each being held on $750,000 bond.
They both face up to life in prison if convicted.