Man charged with involuntary manslaughter 40 years after shaking 6-week-old girl
Nearly 40 years after he shook a 6-week-old girl who was crying, Scott Wilson is facing charges in connection with her death, according to the Clermont County Prosecutor's Office.
Wilson, 57, of Bethel, was indicted Thursday on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide, records filed in Clermont County Common Pleas Court show.
On Jan. 5, 1985, Heather Gentry and her mother were at Wilson's residence, prosecutors said. Gentry was asleep until her mother got into the shower. Then she then began to cry.
The crying ended abruptly while she was alone with Wilson, prosecutors said. Later that day, Gentry's mother became concerned when her daughter wouldn't wake up and was unresponsive.
Gentry was taken to the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and investigators learned from Wilson that he had shaken the girl, prosecutors said. Wilson was later tried and convicted of assault.
Gentry died of her injuries in December 2006, prosecutors said. Her cause of death was determined to be encephalopathy, a disease that affects the functioning of the brain, stemming from late effects of blunt force trauma to the head. The death was ruled a homicide.
"From the time she was six weeks old until the time she died, she was confined to a bed, unable to walk or communicate, required a feeding tube and around-the-clock care," the prosecutor's office said in a news release.
The facts of the case were brought to the attention of investigators in August, prosecutors said. The investigators obtained Gentry's medical records and statements from people with knowledge of the incident.
Court records show a hearing in Wilson's case is scheduled for Dec. 15.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bethel man charged with manslaughter 40 years after shaking infant
