Babysitter accepts settlement for 2019 death of man she allegedly injured as a baby

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A former babysitter pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter in the 2019 death of a man she allegedly disabled as a toddler 40 years ago and was sentenced to three years in prison, eventually admitting that she struck him multiple times.

Terry McKirchy, 62, accepted a plea deal in connection with the death of Benjamin Dowling. Dowling had died at the age of 35 after suffering from severe disabilities throughout his life, caused by a brain hemorrhage he sustained in 1984 at the age of five months in McKirchy's home in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

Investigators long believed she had caused the injury by shaking him, but she had always denied hurting him, even after pleading guilty to injuring him in 1985.

Rae and Joe Dowling said after the hearing they were glad McKirchy admitted to hurting their son, but nothing will bring him back or give him the life he would have had if she hadn't done it. He was never able to walk, talk or eat on his own and spent his life in a wheelchair.

“She’ll have to live with it,” Rae Dowling said.

“We just have to be strong and look forward,” said Joe Dowling.

In an apology letter read to Dowling's parents by her attorney, Assistant Public Defender David Fry, McKirchy said she felt overwhelmed and exhausted from caring for multiple children and hit him, causing his injuries, but she did not provide details.

Before the deal, she had been charged with first-degree murder and faced a life sentence.

“I hit Benjamin out of impulse and anger while he and the other children were crying,” she wrote. “I have caused great harm to your life and Benjamin's and I am truly sorry.”

Chained and dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, McKirchy showed no emotion during the 90-minute hearing, not as her letter was read, nor as Dowling's mother and sister spoke about his life, nor during a photo montage showing him with his family over the years.

“Benjamin taught all of us many valuable lessons, and everyone who knew Benjamin was better for knowing him,” Rae Dowling told District Judge George Odom Jr. during the hearing.

Pam Chestnutt, her former best friend and Benjamin's cousin, told the court she knew McKirchy had a bad temper but didn't believe she could hurt a toddler like that, even though she eventually came to accept that she was capable of it. She said what hurt her most was that in the days following Benjamin's injury, McKirchy repeatedly told her she didn't hurt him.

“They sat me face to face and denied doing anything to the baby. They told me Benjamin fell off the couch,” she told McKirchy. “They lied right to my face.”

A Broward County grand jury indicted McKirchy, who now lives in Sugar Land, Texas. with premeditated murder in 2021 after an autopsy showed Dowling had died from his decades-old injuries. She had voluntarily entered Broward County Jail in May to begin serving her sentence after the plea deal was close to being finalized. State Attorney Pascale Achille said the case took three years because McKirchy's lawyers had to conduct their own investigation and then a confession had to be negotiated.

This is not the first time McKirchy has taken a plea deal in connection with Dowling's injuries. She received an exceptionally lenient sentence after pleading guilty to attempted murder in 1985. At the time, she was six months pregnant with her third child and faced 12 to 17 years in prison. She was sentenced to weekend detention until her child was born, then released and placed on probation for three years.

At the time, she insisted she was innocent and told reporters her “conscience was clear.” She said at the time that she took the deal because she wanted to put the case behind her and be with her children.

Prosecutors called the sentence “therapeutic” but did not provide further explanation at the time. Ryal Gaudiosi, McKirchy's public defender at the time, said the sentence was “fair under the circumstances.” He died in 2009.

Achille said she could not explain why McKirchy was given such a lenient sentence 40 years ago, except: “It was a different time.”

Rae and Joe Dowling had been married for four years when Benjamin was born on January 13, 1984. Both Dowlings worked, so they hired McKirchy, then 22, to look after him in their home.

Rae Dowling told investigators that when she picked Benjamin up from McKirchy on July 3, 1984, his body was limp and his fists were clenched. She took him to the hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a brain hemorrhage due to the severe shaking. McKirchy was arrested within days.

The Dowlings told reporters in 1985 that they were stunned when prosecutors told them minutes before a trial what kind of plea deal McKirchy would be taking. On Wednesday, they said they were still stunned by the verdict.

The Dowlings had two more children and took Benjamin to their plays and performances as a child. The photo montage during the hearing showed how hard his family tried to include him in school and family outings, weddings, vacations and other important events.

“Growing up, Benjamin taught me and countless others invaluable lessons about compassion, empathy, patience and understanding,” said his younger sister Melissa Dowling. “Benjamin's presence was a constant source of inspiration. He could never walk or talk, nor did he ever have the opportunity to say 'I love you.'”

The family moved to Florida's Gulf Coast in the late 1990s. Benjamin died in their home on September 16, 2019.

“He was so strong. We thought he would live forever,” his mother said.