How Could You? Hall of Shame-Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer-Child Death-UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Charles Mix County, South Dakota, a grand jury has indicted guardians Laurie Ellen Cournoyer,28, and Taylor Lawrence Cournoyer,21, in the death of 2-year-old RieLee Lovell and abuse of other victims. RieLee died sometime between June 29, 2012 and July 4, 2012. Sadly, the exact date is unknown. RieLee and her brother were related to Laurie.

“Authorities say the child was found dead in a closet, and it was several hours before the Cournoyers — who were caregivers at the time — reported the child’s death to law enforcement.”

“According to Charles Mix County court records, the Cournoyers face the following charges:
• five counts of abuse of or cruelty to a minor, with four of the counts a Class 3 felony and one count a Class 4 felony;
• one count of possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), a Class 4 felony;
• one count of failure to notify law enforcement of the death of a child, a Class 5 felony;
• one count of keeping a place for use or sale of controlled substances, a Class 5 felony;
• one count of possession of two ounces of marijuana or less, a Class 1 misdemeanor”

“The Cournoyers will be arraigned on the nine charges Aug. 13 at the Charles Mix County courthouse in Lake Andes, according to Charles Mix County state’s attorney Pam Hein. She was unsure which judge will preside over the arraignment, saying the scheduling remained to be finalized.”

“In separate court action, a delinquency petition has been filed against the 11-year-old boy held in custody in connection with RieLee’s death, Hein said.

The petition has been filed with Charles Mix County, Hein said. However, she said she could not discuss the number or nature of the charges against the boy.

Hein was not aware if the autopsy was completed on RieLee. The South Dakota attorney general’s office was working with the autopsy and has said the results might not be back for a month, Hein said. ”

“A Class 3 felony carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment in the state penitentiary and a $30,000 fine. A Class 4 felony carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and $20,000 fine. A Class 5 felony carries a maximum penalty of 5 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

The Class 1 misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of one year imprisonment in the county jail and a $2,000 fine.
If convicted on all nine charges, the Cournoyers face 90 years in the state penitentiary for the eight felony charges and a year in county jail for the misdemeanor.

The Cournoyers were initially arrested on two charges: one count of abuse or cruelty to a minor and one count of failure to notify law enforcement of a child’s death.

The indictments against the Cournoyers were handed down last Wednesday [July 25, 2012], Hein said. In turn, a preliminary hearing scheduled for today (Tuesday [July 31, 2012]) was canceled, she said.

The indictments allege the Cournoyers committed cruelty or abuse to five different children, ranging in age from nearly 2 years old to 9 years old. Those charges allege the Cournoyers, between the approximate dates of June 29 and July 4, “did abuse, exposure, torture, torment or cruelly punish a minor … in a manner which does not constitute aggravated assault.”

The Cournoyers also face three drug charges and one charge of failure to report the death of a child to law enforcement within six hours of the child’s death.

The charge of failure to report arises out of a new law passed this year by the South Dakota Legislature that went into effect July 1 — just days before RieLee is believed to have died.

The South Dakota law was modeled after “Caylee’s Law,” which was passed in Florida in response to the death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, who wasn’t reported missing until 31 days after she vanished in 2008 in Orlando. The law makes the failure to notify law enforcement of death of a child a felony. Under the law, any parent, legal guardian or caretaker who knowingly fails to notify law enforcement within six hours of learning of the death of a minor child in his or her care is guilty of a Class 5 felony.

In the Cournoyers’ case, authorities are using the children’s initials and dates of birth to identify the alleged victims in court records. However, a family member has released RieLee’s name to the media.

The Cournoyers are represented by court-appointed attorneys, according to the Charles Mix County clerk of courts office. Avon attorney Scott Swier represents Laurie Cournoyer, while Platte attorney Tom Deadrick represents Taylor Cournoyer.
Swier has been granted his motion for an independent investigator, Hein said.

According to court papers, Laurie Cournoyer provided information to law enforcement that she and Taylor Cournoyer had used methamphetamine and marijuana on July 3. Based on interviews and other information gathered throughout the investigation, authorities determined the incident leading to RieLee Lovell’s death may have occurred in the early morning hours of July 3.

Laurie Cournoyer called 911 concerning the child, according to court papers.

Both Cournoyers indicated they had difficulty remembering the last time they had seen the toddler alive, according to court records.

Five other children in the Cournoyers’ care at the house were taken to the Wagner Police Department.

A search warrant was issued, and items collected as evidence included a marijuana pipe, a pill bottle containing white pills with no prescription label, and two hypodermic needs located in the trash can, according to court records.

Authorities noted Laurie Cournoyer suffers from diabetes and may use the needles for insulin purposes. The exact content of the pill bottle and two needles had not yet been determined.

The case remains an ongoing investigation even though charges have been filed, Hein said. The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Charles Mix County sheriff’s office are continuing their work on the case.

The South Dakota attorney general’s office and the Charles Mix County state’s attorney are prosecuting the case.”

Wagner Death: Charges Filed Against Couple

[Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan 7/31/12 by Randy Dockendorf]

Early July Articles

“The death has been ruled a homicide, although the cause and time of death have not been determined.

An 11-year-old male relative of Lovell was taken into custody but has not been charged. The Charles Mix County sheriff initially said the boy was 12, but the Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed Wednesday that he’s 11.”

“Circuit Judge Glen Eng in Yankton County signed an arrest warrant for Taylor Cournoyer on June 26 on the recommendation of the young man’s probation officer.

He was sentenced to probation and suspended prison time for grand theft after writing more than $6,400 in bad checks in Yankton in 2010. Court papers show that his probation officer had become frustrated with his performance, citing missed meetings, lies about employment and continued substance abuse.

“Taylor’s phone is no longer receiving calls, he is not returning calls left on his wife’s phone and I have been told he moved to Tax Credit Housing without notifying me at all,” wrote his probation officer, Jerry Barnett.

Barnett also cited his client’s outstanding warrants for theft and failure to appear in Minnehaha County and Woodbury County, Iowa, as well as a warrant for shoplifting from Walmart in Mitchell last November.

“Taylor is not appropriate for probation,” Barnett wrote.

“He has shown no inclination to obtain employment, to tell the truth, to maintain contact or cooperate with probation, to pay his restitution or to cease his illegal activities. His entire sentence should be imposed with no credit for time served.”

Laurie Cournoyer is a co-defendant in the Mitchell shoplifting case.

She did not have prison time hanging over her head but was wanted for failure to appear on the Davison County shoplifting charge and for failure to pay fines in Woodbury County, Iowa, and Charles Mix County.

Arrest warrants were signed for the husband and the wife last November, court documents show.”

“Frank Cournoyer, director of the Yankton Sioux Tribe’s housing authority, said sex offenders are not allowed in tax credit housing. The application asks about felony convictions, but they do not disqualify a potential resident from housing.

There are security guards who police the neighborhoods for parties, but they do not have the authority to make arrests, and the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Office is responsible for serving warrants.

There also are Bureau of Indian Affairs officers and Wagner city police in the area, but neither has jurisdiction over the Tower Housing neighborhood, which sits on state land and outside of Wagner city limits.

There is a long waiting list for homes in the area’s four tax credit housing neighborhoods, Frank Cournoyer said.

“We just recently stopped taking applications because the list is so long and we have such a shortage,” he said.

Frank Cournoyer said Taylor is a nephew, but said he “doesn’t really know him that well.” The young man also is related to Nick Cournoyer, who sits on the tribal council.”

Caregivers for toddler found dead were wanted on warrants

[Argus Leader 7/11/12 by John Hult]

“When Agent Cook arrived on the scene, he spoke with Deputy Cody Sunderland, who was the first on the scene in response to Laurie Cournoyer’s 911 call. Sunderland detected the odor of bleach and Chief Chaney, and officer Simonsen detected odors consistent with human decomposition.

At that time, Laurie Cournoyer was taken into custody on unrelated charges and questioned around 5 p.m on July 4.

During that interview, according to Agent Cook, Laurie Cournoyer stated she had seen RieLee alive around noon on July 4, but later revealed that she wasn’t sure when exactly the last time she saw RieLee alive was, stating she had used marijuana, methamphetamine and sleeping pills the day before and wasn’t sure if she had seen RieLee.

Around 7 p.m. a search warrant was issued for the house where Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer were living along with five other children besides RieLee.

During the search, investigators removed drug paraphernalia, including a marijuana pipe, a pill bottle with white pills, and two hypodermic needles. The type of pills and contents of the needles had yet to be determined, but could be from insulin shots Laurie takes to control diabetes according the affidavit.

In a later interview by Agent Todd Rodig, it was determined that Laurie had not seen RieLee since July 2.

Later in the evening, after the search warrant was issued, Agent Cook conducted an interview with Taylor Cournoyer around 9 p.m.

Taylor was also unable to remember exactly when the last time he saw RieLee was, but indicated he had discovered the body in the closet on July 4.

Based on their investigation DCI concluded that RieLee died in the early morning hours of July 3.” [Autopsy is not complete yet, though.]

Arraignment Tuesday for Guardians of RieLee Lovell

[The Wagner Post 7/12 by Landon Kafka]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

 The child protection system in this area needs a complete re-education and overhaul of child-centered placement.

Update: “A man who ignored the body of a 2-year-old as she lay dead in a closet for nearly two days was sentenced to 13 years in prison Thursday [November 29, 2012] on drug charges.

Taylor Cournoyer, 21, and his wife, 29-year-old Laurie Cournoyer, were caring for six children in their rural Wagner home on July 2, the day RieLee Lovell was strangled to death. Lovell was a relative to Laurie Cournoyer, and she and her brother had been staying with the couple in the months leading up to the incident.

Authorities found her body on July 4, when Laurie Cournoyer called 911 to report an unresponsive child.

The couple was initially charged with multiple counts of child abuse, possession of methamphetamine, keeping a place where drugs are used or sold and failure to report the death of a child for the incident.

An 11-year-old boy, who was living in the home at the time, has been charged in the case, although those charges have not been revealed because he is a juvenile.

Taylor Cournoyer, 21, pleaded guilty to the two drug charges in a plea deal that saw the other charges dropped.

In court Thursday in Lake Andes, Judge Steven Jensen told Cournoyer that although he was not directly responsible for the child’s death, his negligence played a role in her murder.

Taylor Cournoyer admitted that in the hours before Lovell’s body was discovered, he was in a stupor and lost track of where he was.

“The court would view that he was in a drug-induced fog and really had no idea what these children were doing, where they were or what they were up to,” Jensen said.

While the Cournoyers were using drugs, he said, Lovell was being killed.

“The reports would suggest that R.L. was strangled to death and brutally killed,” Jensen said.

Jensen gave Taylor Cournoyer a sentence of 15 years with 10 suspended on the charge of possession of a controlled substance, with a consecutive sentence of 10 years with seven suspended on the charge of maintaining a place where drugs are used or sold.

Taylor Cournoyer was not a father to any of the children, but had married Laurie Cournoyer the previous summer and was serving as a father figure. His relatives testified that he cared for the children.

He apologized for his behavior on Thursday by submitting a letter to Judge Jensen, but said out loud that he was particularly sorry for referring to the children as “a**holes” during his initial interviews with police in the days following the discovery of Lovell’s body.

The quote appeared in court documents and was widely reported in the media.

“I don’t really know why I said that, but I’m sure that I didn’t mean it,” he said. “The kids, they are mean to each other, they do act up. I just want to clear that up that that’s what I’m referring to,”

Jensen gave Cournoyer credit for 140 days already served in the Charles Mix County Jail, and told him making him parole eligible in just over four years.

“I hope that you get the drug treatment you need in the penitentiary,” Jensen said.

Caretaker of dead Wagner toddler sentenced on drug charges

[Argus Leader 11/29/12 by John Hult]

Update 2: “A Wagner woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to drug charges and failing to report the death of a child.

Laurie Cournoyer, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance – methamphetamine, one count of keeping a place for use or sale of controlled substances, and one count of failure to report the death of a child.

All three charges are felonies. The possession charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. The controlled substance and failure to report charges each carry a maximum of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to a South Dakota Attorney General’s Office news release.

The charges stem from an incident that occurred on July 4, 2012, in Wagner involving the death of 2 year-old Reilee Lovell, who was found dead in a closet. This marks the first conviction under South Dakota’s version of Caylee’s law, which became law July 1, 2012.

Cournoyer’s husband, Taylor Cournoyer, 21, was sentenced in November for drug charges that stemmed from the same case. He received 13 years in prison for possession of a controlled substance and keeping a place for the use or sale of controlled substances.

Sentencing is scheduled for March in Charles Mix County.:

Wagner woman pleads guilty in child death case

[The Daily Republic 1/22/13]

Update 3: “As Laurie Cournoyer spoke of her crimes, she wept.

“I chose to put that needle in my vein,” she said, addressing the court. “Now for the rest of my life I have to live with that choice I made.”

She was sentenced to 22 years in prison on multiple charges Thursday morning at the Charles Mix County Courthouse in Lake Andes.

Cournoyer, 29, was arrested with her husband, Taylor Cournoyer, 22, on July 4 after 2-year-old Rielee Lovell was found dead in a closet in their home at a Yankton Sioux tribal housing project near Wagner. Both have since admitted to using methamphetamine, sleeping pills and marijuana in the days leading up to the child’s death.

Cournoyer grew emotional and cried as she gave a statement during Thursday’s sentencing hearing.

“As much as I wish I could go back and change things, I can’t,” she said. “I can, however, take responsibility for my part, for creating an environment where something bad happened and I didn’t know about it because I was high.”

Cournoyer said she was grateful for having Lovell in her life and said the toddler didn’t deserve to die. Full details of why Lovell was in the Cournoyers’ care have never emerged, but it was stated in court Thursday that the couple had taken in several children.

“I’m ready for a change,” she said. “I feel so bad that something like this had to happen for me to straighten myself out.”

Cournoyer said  her experience should raise awareness of the Wagner area’s problem of drug-use, specifically meth, and drug-related crime.

“Meth is hurting our people,” she said. “Our families. Our community. But most importantly, our children.”

 

‘This cannot be tolerated’

Assistant Attorney General Bill Golden, the prosecutor, put Agent Riley Cook, of the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, on the stand Thursday to testify. Cook is the lead investigator on the case and was called to the crime scene on July 4. He described the Cournoyers’ home as being in “disarray” that day.

“The odor of decomposition was strong upon entering the residence,” he said. “You could identify the odor as soon as you approached the door.”

During Cook’s testimony, Golden showed photos of the Cournoyer home, including photos of Lovell’s lifeless body on a blanket on the Cournoyers’ bedroom floor; a used syringe containing meth in a garbage can in the kitchen; and pill bottles and a marijuana pipe in the couple’s bedroom.

Cook said the prosecution found out an FBI agent had told Taylor and Laurie Cournoyer an 11-year-old child living with them shouldn’t be left alone with the five other younger children.

“Prior to the incident, prior to July 4, the oldest son was becoming more aggressive and angry towards Rielee,” Cook said.

The 11-year-old boy was charged in connection with Lovell’s death, but the details of his alleged involvement have been withheld due to his age.

Golden asked Judge Steven Jensen to give Cournoyer the maximum sentence on every charge.

“This cannot be tolerated,” he said. “This is probably one of the most disturbing cases I’ve ever worked on.”

An autopsy revealed Lovell was dead for between 18 and 30 hours before her death was reported to authorities, Golden said. A 6-year-old in the home even told Cournoyer that “Rielee was gone,” but Cournoyer, on drugs at the time, didn’t believe it, Golden said.

“This wasn’t just an incident,” he said. “This was a lifestyle. And this is what happens when people resort to drugs.”

The children in the couple’s home and the community itself have been harmed by this event, Golden said.

“The harm has a ripple effect,” he said. “It doesn’t stop.”

 

‘Somebody who has remorse’

Cournoyer’s court-appointed attorney Scott Swier called the incident a “perfect storm” of drug addiction paired with a “heinous act” committed by a child against another child.

“It was caused by the fact that Laurie has an incredible addiction to methamphetamine,” he said.

Cournoyer’s actions are indefensible, Swier said, but it’s vital she get treatment for her addiction.

“This is somebody who has remorse and actually gets it,” Swier said. “She gets what a major screw-up this was.”

Swier asked Jensen to consider Cournoyer’s remorse and willingness to admit she has an addiction in fashioning her sentence.

“Let’s look at the crime,” Swier said. “But let’s also look at the person.”

Swier asked Jensen to give Cournoyer a sentence similar to the one Taylor Cournoyer was given. Taylor Cournoyer was sentenced to 13 years in prison last November.

“This is not the type of person that we just want to give the maximum sentence to and just throw away the key,” Swier said.

Jensen acknowledged that Cournoyer’s role in Lovell’s death was technically indirect, but said she still bears much of the blame.

“I don’t think we would be sitting here today if Ms. Cournoyer had taken responsibility in her role as caretaker,” Jensen said.

Jensen noted Cournoyer had gone through drug treatment two years ago but failed to complete it, because she didn’t comply with the program’s rules.

“She didn’t ever take the steps to address that addiction,” he said.

Jensen sentenced Cournoyer to 10 years in prison on one count of possession of a controlled substance, five years on one count of failure to report the death of a child and five years for keeping a place for the use or sale of controlled substances. Those charges are all related to the incident involving Lovell’s death.

Cournoyer was also sentenced to 10 years in prison with eight years suspended in prison for being caught with meth while in custody in the Charles Mix County Jail.

Jensen ordered all of Cournoyer’s prison time to be served consecutively, or one term after the other for a total of 22 years. She was given credit for the jail time she has already served since her arrest.

Cournoyer will serve at least 30 to 40 percent of her sentence before she is eligible for parole, Jensen said.

“I think you have something to offer,” Jensen said. “But I also think there needs to be a significant punishment in this case.””

UPDATE: Wagner woman sentenced to 22 years for child death

[The Daily Republic 3/14/13 by Chris Mueller]