Prosecutors: Babysitter Sarah Gumm charged with murder slammed baby down on table

By Lena Sullivan / Dailymail 08/09/2012 23:30:00

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Sarah Gumm, 33, of Waukegan, Illinois, has been charged with first-degree murder after prosecutors said she struck the head of three-month-old Rylan Koopmeiners against a table while babysitting her in late July

A babysitter from suburban Illinois has been charged with killing a three-month-old baby girl who was in her care by slamming her head down on a wooden table after the child became fussy, according to police.

Prosecutors said Sarah Gumm, of Waukegan, was trying to change Rylan Koopmeiners' diaper and became frustrated when the little girl started squirming around.

‘She put the baby down on the table such that she struck her head on the table,’ Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Ari Fisz said Thursday, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Fisz said that an autopsy revealed a severe fracture to the baby’s skull and cranial hemorrhaging, which caused her death on July 27.

‘It was the medical examiner’s opinion that an extreme amount of force had to have been used to cause that fracture,’ he said.

Rylan’s parents, Nathan and Reggan Koopmeiners, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, dropped their daughter off at Gumm’s home in the 1100 block of O'Farrell Lane in Waukegan at about 6:45am on July 27, Fisz said.

At about 4:30pm, the 33-year-old babysitter called police and reported that the little girl was not breathing. She was rushed to Vista East Medical Center in Waukegan, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 5 pm, according to Fisz.

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 the caregiver to call 911.

Grave accusation: Sarah Gumm, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder after allegedly admitting to causing little Rylan's injuries out of frustration

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 police on August 2, Gumm allegedly admitted to going to the pharmacy and leaving the baby unsupervised at home, according to Fisz. The prosecutor said Gumm also 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.’

Crime scene: Gumm was looking after the three-month-old girl at her home in the 1100 block of O'Farrell Lane in Waukegan on July 27

The baby’s parents hired Gumm six weeks prior to the tragic incident after seeing an advertisement for her services online.

Gumm, who is reportedly married, was not caring for any other children at the time of Rylan’s death, according to police.

During a hearing on Thursday, Gumm asked for more time to hire an attorney. Judge Raymond Collins gave her until August 16.

She was charged with first-degree murder and remains in the Lake County Jail in lieu of $3million bond.

Reverend Don Hackbarth, of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, where the Koopmeinerses are members, said the baby’s parents ‘are very, very distraught, very sad.’

Kenosha News reported that little Rylan is survived by three siblings: Jordan, Tyler and TresaJo.