Prosecutor Alleges Abuse

VAN NUYS -Jessica Taylor - Lindsay Gentry, a severely disabled 15-year-old girl who weighed a mere 44 pounds when she died, often complained of being hungry and being hit by her father, a teacher’s aide said in tearful testimony Friday during the retrial of the girl’s parents charged with involuntary manslaughter and child abuse. “She came to school with an injury on her face and lip,” said Paula Elrod of Palmdale who was assigned by the Antelope Valley school district to assist Gentry - who suffered from myotonic dystrophy, an inherited form of muscular dystrophy that causes muscle to atrophy.  

“When I asked her what happened, she told me, ‘Daddy did it.’” Elrod testified.  “‘Because he said I have a big mouth,” Elrod said, quoting Gentry. On another occasion, Gentry’s mother was called to bring fresh clothing to the school after Gentry had urinated in her pants, said Elrod. “Rub her nose in it and she can just sit in it,” was the reply Elrod said she got from Kathleen Gentry, Lindsay’s mother. Eldrod said she discovered more signs of abuse as she changed Gentry out of her soiled clothing. “Large red welts that looked like hand prints covered her bottom and back legs,” said Eldron.

Her lunch pail often contained remnants from previous days’ lunches and was filthy, said Elrod.  The Gentrys told authorities that their daughter was a picky eater and they were unable to get her to eat because of her disease, but when Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Cady questioned Elrod, another story emerged.  “Lindsay would often say that she was hungry,” said Elrod. Following the advice given by her mother, a registered dietician, Elrod started giving Gentry a half a can of Ensure, a high-caloric nutritional drink, in the mornings and another half a can in the afternoons to help her gain weight.

            “She loved it,” said Elrod.  Lindsay did begin to gain weight, however, it became a general pattern for Lindsay to lose all the weight she gained over the weekends and school breaks, Elrod testified. Elrod said she kept records of Lindsay’s weight losses and gains, but was unable to furnish them for the court on Friday morning.“Mrs. Gentry called the school and complained about the drinks we [fellow teachers] had been giving Lindsay,” said Elrod.  “She said that Lindsay was on a special diet for her condition.”

            But when Lindsay stayed at Elrod’s home for several weekends, Elrod asked about special instructions concerning Lindsay’s diet.  “Her mother did not give any,” said Elrod.  “She eats what the family eats, and if she doesn’t than that’s tough.  I’m not making any special foods,” was the reply Elrod said Kathleen Gentry gave when asked about Gentry’s diet at home.

            “She ate like a horse at my house, often trying to keep up with my teen-age son.  She ate pizza, spaghetti, eggs, pancakes…,” said Elrod. Lindsay did have a hard time eating meat and told Elrod that it hurt her mouth.  “When I looked in her mouth, it was covered with sores,” said Elrod. “I showed her how to gargle with saltwater and it seemed to help,” said Elrod.  “But her mother didn’t care to take Lindsay to a dentist.”

            She also testified that it took Gentry longer to finish her lunches at school than it did at her house.  “Her lunches usually consisted of a banana or a yogurt and half a sandwich,” said Gentry. “She would pick a part the sandwich in tiny pieces, usually because it contained meat.”  Elrod said.  Elrod learned which foods that Gentry liked and subsequently would eat, she told the court.  Gentry called her “mommy” when she stayed at her home on the weekends, said Elrod. 

Elrod spoke to Gentry’s mother, Katrina, on the phone four days before Gentry slipped into a coma.  Elrod testified that she overheard Gentry in the background yelling to her mother to give the phone to her so she could talk to Elrod.

“’Mommy, let me talk to my other mommy…she doesn’t want me to die like you do,’” Elrod said she heard Gentry yelling in the background. Elrod told the court that on that day - January 26, 1996 -  Gentry told her that her parents told Gentry that, “it was time to be with Jesus.”  “’But I don’t want to be with Jesus,’” Elrod said Gentry told her.

The prosecution is building a case that Gentry essentially starved to death due to lack of food and neglect, said an assistant to Cady, a deputy with the Dist. Atty’s office who is unwavering in her prosecution of the couple on a lesser charge of manslaughter.  The case was declared a mistrial last year after a jury deadlocked on 10-2 vote to acquit the couple of murder.

A medical expert testified in the first trial that the teen-ager's 1996 death ``was a classic case of someone dying with the disease,'' said defense attorney Patrick Thomason.

Elrod’s testimony echoed that of Gentry’s teachers, Dr. Patricia Turner and Diane Hogaboan.  Hogaboan testified Monday that they could hear Lindsay’s stomach growling during class.  Dr. Turner also testified that she gave Gentry a special nutritional drink to help her gain weight.

             Gentry’s father, former Lake Los Angeles council member Mike Gentry, 55, appeared busier than the legal council that surrounded him, barely glancing up from a stack of papers.   He kept busy shuffling papers as his council listened intently and Elrod recalled conversations she had with the Gentry’s about their daughter’s welfare and the neglect she witnessed.

“The snake,” Mike Gentry was heard muttering under his breath during Elrod’s testimony, which lead the prosecution to ask the presiding Judge John Fisher during a recess to ask that such statements cease while the jury was present. 

On the other hand, Kathleen “Katrina” Gentry, 46, who also suffers from a mild form of myotonic dystrophy, fidgeted in her seat at times and appeared bewildered at many of the comments Elrod made.

Defense attorneys for the Gentry’s said that school officials never understood that Lindsay suffered from myotonic dystrophy, a rare neurological condition characterized by progressive weakness and wasting away of muscles, reported The Antelope Valley Press during the first trial. 

The Valley Press also reported in an April 1999 article that David Houchin, who is defending Kathleen Gentry, hinted that the Gentry's are victims of controlling school officials who were angry with the outspoken Michael Gentry, who in turn, was unhappy about his daughter's education.