The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
At boyfriend’s homicide trial, woman recalls death of daughter
NORRISTOWN » At times choking back tears, the mother of a 4-year-old girl recalled for a jury the day her little girl died, allegedly after being beaten and strangled by her live-in boyfriend.
Pailenn Bunrout told a Montgomery County jury she was at work at a Towamencin Township supermarket when she received a text message from her boyfriend, Marquis Lamont Thomas, at 7:45 a.m. Oct. 18, 2016, telling her that her daughter, Kailee “won’t wake up.” Bunrout testified she told Thomas to call 911 and that she was returning home immediately.
“Kailee was lying in her bed. I was trying to wake her up and I couldn’t wake her up. There was something on her shirt, like saliva. She felt cold,” Bunrout testified on Tuesday, recalling what she observed when she returned to the couple’s residence at the Forge Gate Apartments on Snyder Road in Towamencin.
Under questioning by
First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann
Jr., Bunrout testified she called 911 after learning Thomas had not called to request assistance.
Testimony revealed Thomas began performing chest compressions on the little girl, at the request of a 911 dispatcher, until police and emergency medical officials arrived.
Bunrout recalled that emergency medical officials arrived and took over and that when they removed Kailee’s shirt she observed a bruise on the little girl’s belly. Bunrout testified that she did not observe any bruising or other injuries on the child when she bathed her and put her to bed the night before, on Oct. 17.
The little girl was later pronounced dead at Abington Health Lansdale Hospital at 8:33 a.m., according to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Gregory Henry and Towamencin Detective Patrick Horne. Testimony revealed authorities noticed bruising on the little girl’s torso.
When Thomas was interviewed he told detectives he awoke about 7:44 a.m. and went to Kailee’s room and she would not wake so he sat on the bed and tried to wake her by “shaking her shoulder,” according to the arrest affidavit. Thomas allegedly told detectives he noticed Kailee’s skin was cold.
But county Detective Kathleen Kelly testified on Tuesday that when detectives later downloaded the contents of Thomas’ cellphone they determined he had conducted internet searches, during a 4-minute period beginning at