LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A woman convicted in the death of a 9-month-old boy at a Eudora day care has been sentenced of more than 10 years in prison.
Forty-five-year-old Carrody Melissa Buchhorn was sentenced Monday for second-degree murder in the September 2016 death of Oliver Ortiz at the Sunshine Kids Group Daycare Home in Eudora.
The Lawrence Journal-World reports a coroner ruled Oliver’s death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. Buchhorn was originally charged with first-degree murder.
After she was convicted, Buchhorn fired her lawyer and hired a new counsel, who said he planned to appeal the case.
In April 2018, Oliver’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the day care operators in whose home Oliver died, Gina Brunton and husband Morgan Eric Brunton. The court later approved a settlement.
