Tooele resident Kimberly Emelyantsev stands to be sentenced in 3rd District Court Friday for killing her 14-month-old adopted son in March. Emelyantsev was sentenced to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
- photography / Maegan Burr
- photography / Maegan Burr
Hogan: “There is no one more defenseless than this child was.”
A Tooele mom who admitted to killing her 14-month-old child was sentenced in 3rd District Court Friday to one to 15 years in the Utah State Prison.
Kimberly Emelyantsev, 34, made a 911 call on March 6 to report that her son Nikolai — a child with Down syndrome who she had recently adopted from Russia — was experiencing breathing problems. Tooele City police officers who responded to the scene noted discoloration and bruising to the child’s face. The child was taken to Mountain West Medical Center and then transported to Primary Children’s Medical Center, where he later died.
Emelyantsev originally told police the child had fallen off a chair in the family’s living room when she had left the room for a few minutes to change another child’s diaper. She was arrested March 10 after physicians at Primary Children’s Medical Center advised police that Nikolai had sustained injuries that were a result of blunt-force trauma to the head and could not have been caused by a fall as described by Emelyantsev.
Emelyantsev was originally charged with first-degree murder, but pled guilty on June 20 to a lesser charge of second-degree felony child abuse homicide as part of a plea deal.
At that plea hearing, Emelyantsev told Judge Mark Kouris that she had dropped Nikolai twice — once on a bag of diapers and again on a hard-surface floor.
However, during a 60-day psychological evaluation completed prior to sentencing, another version of the story emerged. Emelyantsev told interviewers that she had kicked the child twice, sliding him across the floor, according to Tooele County Attorney Doug Hogan. Later that day, when frustration with the needs of her other children boiled over, Emelyantsev picked up Nikolai and “slammed” him onto the hard-surface floor twice.
“The version that came out during the diagnostic is far more chilling,” Hogan said, adding that it also fits better with the injuries sustained.
Hogan said Emelyantsev and her husband Fyodor are both relinquishing their parental rights to their four remaining children — a 10-year-old Down syndrome daughter from Kimberly’s previous marriage, their two biological children, ages 5 and 2, and a 4-year-old Down syndrome son they adopted from Russia last Christmas. The children are currently being cared for by family members.
Defense attorney Jon Williams said Emelyantsev blames what happened on the circumstances at the time and a husband “who would not participate in an extraordinary familial situation.”
“This case has been tragic,” Hogan said. “Much of this could have been avoided if there had been more communication between husband and wife.”
Hogan asked the court to follow the recommendations made in the diagnostic report and send Emelyantsev to prison.
“There is no one more defenseless than this child was,” Hogan said, adding that the possibilities for rehabilitation were greater at the prison.
Emelyantsev, through moments of sobbing, told Judge Mark Kouris she was sorry.
“What I did caused the death of my son,” Emelyantsev said. “I will never get over that, ever. I’m ashamed. I would just like you to know, sir, that I am truly sorry. But sorry will never bring him back.”
Kouris said when applying sentences he looks at three things: community safety, rehabilitation and punishment.
He said while he could not imagine Emelyantsev committing such a crime again, he sentenced her to prison partly in light of the diagnostic report, which detailed a variety of emotional and psychological problems Emelyantsev was experiencing, including a major depressive disorder.
“I have to make sure you getting the help you need,” Kouris said.
He also wanted the punishment to fit the crime, he said.
“It’s one thing to walk away [from a difficult child] and another to do this,” Kouris said. “I understand you weren’t in the right frame of mind, but it caused the funeral of a little baby.”
Kouris then sentenced Emelyantsev to one to 15 years in prison, giving her credit for the 214 days she had already served and recommending that she attend all available treatment.
“As terrible as this is, there is going to be life on the other side of this,” Kouris said.
Jamie Belnap: jamieb@tooeletranscript.com
That being said what about the case of a mother who does not beat her child. I mother who has raised many children with love and compassion. A mother who smiles at her children first thing in the morning and tucks them in with a kiss and a hug when they close their eyes at night. What if that same mother for one moment.. ONE MOMENT. After months of sleep deprivation, no support and or no help, just snaps? And in that one moment that little life is lost... This little life is now with God and there is no doubt he is cared for there and loved. This precious little light has been snuff our before its time. No one will deny that this is the biggest tragedy in this story. Now what do we do with this mother? What do we do as a society and as a community with this woman? She needs to be punished and she needs to go to jail, but I also think she needs compassion and love. Not just hateful bile spewed forth with no thought or insight.
I grew up with what I would describe as a perfect mother. She had no temper, she was loving and gentle and I adore the woman more then pen to paper could ever express. But my Dad told me a story about myself as baby with raging colic beyond narration. I would cry day and night and nothing would sooth me. My Dad remembers after several weeks of 24/7 crying waking to the sound of my mother screaming. And when he went into the other room she has me gripped around the shoulders and was shaking me aggressively. Here she was this gentle woman who rarely raised even her voice, had broken. But after weeks of no sleep she was no longer herself she had snapped. My mother, my softhearted gentle mother was gone. In her place was someone I have never met in my 34 years since. In fact I found the story hard to believe knowing her the way I do. So what would have happened if my father had not been there? What if they had sent my mother to prison and never let her see my siblings again?
All I can say is that this is not the case of a woman who constantly beat her children. Classifying her as such shows a lack of understanding and empathy beyond my comprehension.
So I do agree with you on one point and that is no parent ever has a right to hurt a child. And any parent who harms there child should be dealt with severely. Children are innocence spirits that we have been blessed to be allowed to have and they should be treated as such.
But I also love my fellow mothers and my heart bleeds for this one. No hateful words written will ever upset a woman like this. I guarantee she agrees with you and probably feels she is a monster herself. So keep the rocks a coming.
I'm so disgusted I could puke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No one can excuse this type of an act. This was a horrible crime and you can not help but cry out to that poor baby. No one will deny that this was a terrible crime. But I choose not to be God as you seem to feel you can be. I do not know the mental state of this women. The stories of Andrea Yates and Deanna Laney always come to mind when I hear stories of mothers who take the lives of their children. But what mental state does a mother have to be in to do such a thing?... Only God knows and only he can judge.
This mother was obviously not some animal. She did not lock her kids away in a bathroom with little food or water for years. She did not party and play while her kids were naked and starving. This is the case of a human being who for some reason snapped.
There is no way to bring back this little boy. Throwing rocks and screaming God at a woman who is obviously not a monster, just a mother with some major mental issues is true hypocrisy.
I think she will punish herself more then any prison ever can. At this point the crime has been committed, the innocent life is lost. Now is the time to ask the question why? and help the person who so obviously needed it.
I find people who run with the idea that they can speak for God to be the most pathetic of all creatures. The piousness to think you know the true thoughts of God must be such a wonderful feeling as you throw those stones.