Trials for the parents accused of neglect in the death of their 1-year-old son, Domanic Xzavier Meador, have been postponed.
Investigators charged Newton residents 27-year-old Alan Wayne Meador and 25-year-old Jessica Mae Lenze with neglect of a dependent person, a class C felony, in January, nearly a year after Domanic’s death. Lenze’s trial was scheduled to begin Wednesday but has been postponed to Aug. 5. Meador’s trial, originally set to begin June 3, has been re-scheduled for June 29.
According to court records, paramedics responded to a report of an unresponsive child just before noon Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008, where Meador and Lenze resided at Northern Lights Apartments, 1024 E. 10th St. N. #10. Domanic was found dead, and autopsy results later showed he died of dehydration.
During the investigation, authorities determined Meador and Lenze had closed all air vents in their apartment except for one in Domanic’s bedroom and set the living room thermostat between 70 and 75 degrees to help him “sweat out” a cold. Investigators also determined through several tests that the temperature in Domanic’s room averaged between 90 and 106 degrees, about 20 and 31 degrees warmer than the rest of the apartment, according to court records.
Lenze also admitted she had not taken Domanic out of his crib for several days and that she “just handed an older child milk and crackers over the child gate to give to Domanic,” court records state.
A police officer at the scene of Domanic’s death also observed a 3-year-old child with a soiled diaper that appeared to have been on the child for some time. Court records state the officer had to tell Meador several times to change the diaper before he did and that Meador then “directed the child to wipe himself and did not assist the child in cleaning himself.”
Both Meador and Lenze are free on bond. Pre-trial conferences in both cases are scheduled for June 29.