Story Created:
Jun 12, 2009 at 4:11 PM EST
Story Updated:
Jun 12, 2009 at 10:23 PM EST
DEERFIELD, N.Y / ASHEVILLE, N.C. - The Oneida County Sheriff's Office has charged a former Oneida County resident, now living in North Carolina, with second-degree murder in connection to the death of her infant daughter in Deerfield last April.
Authorities investigated the suspicious death four-month old Daniella Marie Sapienza on Fineview Drive in Deerfield on April 17, 2008. The investigation remained open, and now, 14 months later, the girl's mother, LeAnn Wimmers, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder, which is a reckless murder charge, with depraved indifference to human life. That charge is a specific murder charge when the victim is an infant.
Wimmers currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and was charged by Oneida County Sheriff's Investigators, who traveled to North Carolina this week in the suffocation death of her infant daughter.
Oneida County Assistant District Attorney Dawn Lupi, says Wimmers case has been adjourned for 30 days, because she is fighting extradition, and law enforcement needs a warrant to bring her back to New York.
According to Lupi, Wimmers lived on Fineview Drive with her daughter and the family of the child's father at the time of the alleged murder. It is unknown, however, when Wimmers left New York State for North Carolina.
A look at
Wimmers' MySpace page shows a picture of her daughter, with the letters "RIP" in the upper right hand corner. Her photo albums also show numerous photos of both Wimmers and her late daughter.
Lupi says she credits the Sheriff's Office's diligent work over the last year in bringing an arrest in this case.
"In these kinds of situations, when it's the death of an infant that appears suspicious, they can take quite a bit of time," Lupi said. "There is a lot investigation that needs to be done, there are a lot of people who need to be talked to."
Oneida County Sheriff Daniel Middaugh said that his investigators are currently in North Carolina, working to get a warrant to bring Wimmers back to Oneida County and face the second-degree murder charge.
The District Attorney's office says that could take up to several weeks..
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