The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Testimony continues in Pittsfield Twp. woman’s trial
Elizabeth Zenda told police two days after Annie Flynn drowned in her backyard pool, that she saw the toddler climb under the gate which blocked the pool.
The statement came June 21 during the second day of Zenda’s trial in Lorain County Common Pleas Court as part of a video of her interview with Lorain County Sheriff’s Office Detective David Lottman on Oct. 7, 2016.
Zenda, 49, of Pittsfield Township, is facing a single count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering children after 22-month-old Annie drowned in Zenda’s backyard pool Oct. 5, 2016.
Zenda was watching Annie and her two cousins at her small day care center home.
Prosecutors have argued Zenda was reckless at the time of Annie’s death.
Her defense attorneys claim the incident was an accident.
One of Annie’s cousins also entered the pool at the time, but the 21-month-old boy survived the incident.
In the interview with Lottman, Zenda, in the presence of her lawyers, told the detective she knew Annie enjoyed playing on the steps leading to the pool area.
“The more children there to entertain (Annie), the less likely she was to play on the steps,” Zenda said. “I was low on numbers that day, so not as many people to entertain her.”
She said after she saw Annie try to go through the seven-inch gap between the swing gate and the deck surrounding the pool, she placed a plastic baby gate behind the swing gate hoping it would deter Annie from trying again.
When asked by Lottman whether it deterred the girl from trying to go under the gate, Zenda responded that it did “sometimes.”
At this statement, members of Annie’s family rushed from the courtroom.
Zenda also told officers that a metal chair that was near the gate and placed directly behind it blocking after the incident, was not in the same position to block the gate before Annie and her cousin were found floating in the pool.
Earlier in the interview, Zenda told Lottman she had operated the day care center from her home for six years, but had been watching children throughout her adult life.
She said she holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Zenda also said she and her daughter-in-law, Tanya Zenda, who found the children in the pool, were not trained in CPR.
Later in the day during the trial, Dr. Frank Miller, a forensic pathologist with the Lorain County Coroner’s Office, testified that it would take anyone five minutes submerged in water to drown.
He said that during his autopsy, he found no diseases or abnormalities that would have killed Annie had she not entered the pool and that there was water in the girl’s lungs.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m., June 22, before Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi.