OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) A deputy medical examiner on Tuesday (June 30) told a packed courtroom that nearly 200 church members were gathered at the home of a 15-month-old girl who died when her parents chose faith-healing over traditional medicine.
Deputy medical examiner Jeffrey Mayer said the night Ava Worthington died, he arrived to find the family’s house jammed with relatives and other members of the Followers of Christ church lining the hallway to the master bedroom. The body of 15-month-old Ava rested on her parents’ bed.
“It was standing room only,” said Mayer, testifying as the first witness in the trial of Ava’s parents, Raylene and Carl Worthington. The couple are charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal neglect for failing to provide their daughter with adequate medical care.
Mayer was the first investigator to arrive March 2, 2008, the night Ava died. The Worthingtons and others filed out of the bedroom as he entered.
Ava, dressed in pajamas, lay on the bed on her right side. Her head was resting on a pillow. Next to the bed was a tray that held a bowl of Cheerios, a bottle of olive oil and a baby bottle with red liquid. Mayer suspected it was wine, which church members often used as a sacrament during sessions of spiritual healing.
Ava’s face was shiny, likely from being anointed with oil, Mayer said.
He immediately noticed a large discolored growth, “approximately the size of a baseball,” on the right side of her neck. The child also appeared to be malnourished, with her ribs protruding, he said.
Prosecutors displayed a photo for jurors that showed a swollen area from the girl’s ear to her collarbone. “I had never seen anything like that,” said Mayer, who has investigated more than 1,000 deaths, including 40 or 50 involving children.
An autopsy determined that Ava died of bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection, both of which could have been treated with antibiotics. Prosecutors allege the growth on her neck also interfered with Ava’s ability to breathe, compounding the effects of her underlying illness.
Defense attorneys said the growth was unsightly but had nothing to do with her death. They say she died of the blood infection without showing symptoms of a fatal illness.
A photo taken a few weeks before Ava died shows the girl, apparently happy and healthy, with her father. Defense attorneys presented the photo to show jurors that the girl was loved and well cared for.
