Woman found guilty in toddler’s drowning

Pittsfield Twp. resident faces as little as probation to up to 14 years in prison

Elizabeth Zenda was found guilty June 22 of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangering for the October 2016 drowning death of 22-month-old Annie Flynn.

Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge James L. Miraldi ruled immediately following closing arguments in the three-day bench trial and Zenda, 49, of Pittsfield Township, is scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m., July 26.

Zenda had run a day care from her home for six years.

She testified earlier in the day she had no training in child care beyond her own experiences raising her own children.

Zenda had watched Annie and her 21-month-old cousin for over a year, testimony revealed.

On Oct. 5, 2016, Annie and her cousin exited the gated play area in Zenda’s backyard, climbed underneath a 7-inch gap below a swing gate barring entry onto a deck surrounding the above ground pool where both were found.

Medical personnel revived the boy, who still suffers brain damage from the incident.

Annie was pronounced dead at Mercy Allen Hospital in Oberlin.

During her testimony, Zenda admitted she did not sit outside with the children she watched while they played and claimed to look in on them every few minutes.

She testified that while she watched the children, she often would do household tasks such as laundry and cooking and that she relied on her hearing to detect whether a problem arose.

Zenda also testified she was in the living room of the home talking to her future daughter-in-law in the minutes preceding their discovery of Annie and her cousin in the pool.

Zenda claimed she believed her backyard was safe and that a plastic baby gate placed behind the swing gate blocking the deck was enough to deter the children.

If it did not, she counted on being able to hear the gate fall to alert her to the trouble.

Zenda said besides the drowning incident, there only were two other instances of children in her care being injured: a young girl swallowed a quarter; and Annie previously had her finger crushed and cut to an extent where she needed surgery to repair it.

Zenda testified she wasn’t in the room with the children during either of those incidents, but heard them happen.

When pressed by Lorain County Assistant Prosecutor Laura Dezort during crossexamination, Zenda admitted that “in hindsight,” she should have given Annie more attention after the previous incident where her finger was injured.

Zenda is facing a sentence of as little as probation up to 14 years in prison