No abuse, mother says of boy's death
The Texas woman says the 3-year-old adopted from Russia was playing outside.
LUBBOCK, Texas - The adoptive mother of a 3-year-old Russian boy who died in Texas told authorities the boy was outside playing with his younger brother before she found him unresponsive, a sheriff said Wednesday.
Laura Shatto told deputies that she was inside the family's home outside of Odessa on Jan. 21 and came out to find Max Alan Shatto on the ground, Ector County Sheriff Mark Donaldson said.
Deputies arrived at the home as the ambulance was leaving with Max, he said, and the boy was pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later. No one has been arrested in the case, authorities said.
The mother said Max was playing with his biological brother, 2-year-old Kristopher Shatto. Donaldson said he was not sure if anyone else was at the home besides Laura Shatto and the boys, whom Shatto and her husband, Alan, had recently adopted. Kristopher remains with his adootive parents.
The medical examiner's office said it could not immediately be determined if bruises on several parts of Max's body were intentional or accidental. Russian authorities have blamed Max's death on "inhuman treatment" by the parents.
Shirley Standefer, chief investigator for the Ector County Medical Examiner's Office, says there were signs of bruising on Max's lower abdominal area. A full autopsy will be needed to determine what kind of bruising was on Max's body, she said.
Donaldson said he did not know when the final autopsy report would be completed.
A preliminary report from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office has been received by county officials, but they have declined to release it.
The death comes weeks after Russia announced it was banning all American adoptions in retaliation for a new U.S. law targeting alleged Russian human-rights violators. The ban also reflects lingering resentment over the 60,000 Russian children adopted by Americans in the last two decades, of which at least 19 have died.