INFANT'S DEATH PROBED

Miami Herald, The (FL)

Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dateline: TALLAHASSEE

A criminal investigation into the death of a 4-month-old boy in an overcrowded foster home is focusing on why the infant died of dehydration, said the case's chief investigator.

Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney James Russell has given a preliminary report of the investigation to Gov. Bob Graham and David Pingree, secretary of the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

But on Thursday, both Graham and Pingree refused comment ecause the case was still open.

"I'm not going to comment on the report until it's available for public distribution and that will be when the criminal investigation is complete," said Graham.

But Graham's chief of staff, Tom Herndon, told the St. Petersburg Times in an article published Thursday that the report was critical of HRS workers who earlier placed the infant in the home of Judith Lundy.

"It makes clear that there was no malice in what anybody did or didn't do," said Herndon. "But there were nevertheless a series of errors of omission that cumulatively resulted in a pretty disgraceful situation."

Graham said he hadn't read the news account or talked to Herndon about his statement to the newspaper.

Though Pingree declined comment, he said criticism of HRS was not surprising.

"I myself have said that we didn't handle the case" in the best way, he told the newspaper.

Russell, who is expected to meet with Graham for a final report within three or four days, would say little more than that the baby died of dehydration.

"We know that he died of dehydration. We just wonder what caused the dehydration," Russell said Wednesday, declining to elaborate.

But Clifford Frye, chief of police in Treasure Island, where Corey Greer died on July 21, said prosecutors have been interested in the baby formula Corey was given before his death, a formula one nutritionist said might have led to the dehydration.

Treasure Island Police said Lundy, a state-licensed foster mother who previously had a good record of child care, had three times more foster children in her home than it was licensed for.

Other reports made earlier to HRS showed there was inadequate training for HRS foster care workers, there was poor communication between the worker who placed Corey in the home and Lundy and that HRS kept inadequate records on the number of foster children under the state's care.

Lundy said she fed Corey a formula made of roughly equal parts of evaporated milk and water. It was a combination she fed her natural children, she said, and one endorsed by at least one book on child nutrition.

University of Florida nutritionist Dr. Harry Sitren said such a mixture could have caused an overload of minerals in Corey's body and forced him urinate an unhealthy amount.

"It will draw water from the rest of the cells in the body, and it will dehydrate you," he said.

But Dr. James Prebis, a St. Petersburg physician, said evaporated milk generally contains more salt than a commercial formula or regular milk.