Opinion ID: 2600609
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Further Police Interviews

Text: After the autopsy, a police detective interviewed Hill and defendant a second time. Hill did not change her story about the events leading up to Kesha's death. Defendant, however, in an interview that was not recorded, eventually changed his account after being told that the autopsy did not support his story about Kesha's being burned in the shower. When asked whether he had burned Kesha accidentally or intentionally, defendant began to cry, said he had not meant to burn her, and told the following story: Hill had left the apartment to run some errands, and he began frying some shrimp. He felt a tug on his leg, which startled him. He turned with the frying pan in his hand, and the hot butter or grease fell on Kesha. He removed her diaper, took her to the shower, and turned the cold water on to treat her burns. He did not think she was in any great pain. The detective told defendant that, while the burns were serious and a contributing cause of Kesha's death, she had died from a massive blow to the abdomen. Defendant then stated that, after burning Kesha, he squeezed her very hard, picked her up, and ran into the high chair on the way to the shower. Defendant wrote out a statement repeating what he had told the detective, and stating that he had not meant to hurt Kesha. The detective checked with the pathologist about defendant's claim that he had squeezed Kesha and ran into a high chair with her. In a third interview, which was also not taped, the detective told defendant that he had been informed that it was impossible for Kesha to have suffered her injuries in the way defendant had described it. Defendant then stated that he now remembered that, as he was running towards the shower with Kesha, he tripped and fell on top of her, which, he stated, may have possibly caused her massive abdominal injuries. When the detective told defendant that investigators had been unable to find a diaper with melted plastic or any grease spots on it, defendant changed his story and claimed that Kesha had not, in fact, been wearing a diaper when she was burned.