Infant was hours from dying when found in filthy house

LAKE STEVENS — A 10-month-old boy was on the verge of kidney failure and so hypothermic that a nurse predicted he would have died within a day had he not been rescued.

The boy has gained two pounds in two weeks, but his development appears to be delayed, according to court papers filed Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court.

The infant and his two siblings, ages 7 and 3, were found alone Jan. 31 in a filthy Lake Stevens house that later was deemed uninhabitable.

There was no functioning toilet or heat. The house was littered with garbage, animal feces and urine. There were exposed wires and no working smoke detectors.

Prosecutors on Friday charged the children’s mother, Amanda Foley, with multiple crimes, including child abandonment and criminal mistreatment. Mark Dorson, her boyfriend and the father of the youngest child, faces the same charges. Both are convicted felons.

The couple is accused of leaving the children home alone for at least two hours. The pair, both 32, didn’t try to contact police or Child Protective Services for days.

Foley allegedly told detectives that she left the children in the care of a neighbor so she could buy food. She returned to see police officers outside the house. She said she panicked and went to a friend’s house. She told police that she came back and saw her children being taken away in an ambulance. She didn’t call the hospital to check on them because she thought “everything was fine,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Katie Wetmore wrote.

Foley reportedly agreed that her children would have been safer living on the streets.

Dorson told police that the situation “got blown way out of proportion.” He gave detectives the same story about the kids being left with a babysitter. He explained that he didn’t call police or CPS because he didn’t have a phone.

Police arrested the couple Feb. 3 at the CPS office in Monroe.

Detectives interviewed a neighbor, who denied that the couple asked her to babysit. The night before Foley and Dorson were arrested, they asked her to lie to police and social workers.

She said she saw the couple leave the house together on Jan. 31, about two hours before police arrived.

Detectives were told that Dorson and Foley didn’t stay overnight at the house. They had told the neighbor that a teenage girl stayed with the children at night. She said she has never seen a teenage girl come or go from the house.

The older children attended an elementary school and preschool in Lake Stevens. School staff had made reports to CPS on Oct. 2, Dec. 9 and Jan. 30 related to the children missing from school and the older girl’s health, hygiene and overall well-being.

CPS officials have declined to discuss any history related to the family. It’s unclear if social workers ever responded to the school’s calls.

The children were rescued only after a woman called the Crime Stoppers tip line. She had gone to the house multiple times to confront Dorson about unfinished mechanical work she paid him to do. The 7-year-old always answered the door and said her parents were sleeping.

The front door was padlocked when police arrived. They knocked and heard little footsteps come to the door and then retreat.

When they went around back and peered through a glass door, they spotted two children hiding under a blanket on a couch. They had been watching cartoons.

The oldest girl was reluctant to let the strangers inside. She eventually unlocked the door and officers walked into a filthy house. Children’s drawings covered walls. The stench of urine, feces and rotting food was so strong that it drove at least one officer outside to catch his breath.

The girl told officers that her parents were asleep upstairs. No one was upstairs except the girl’s 10-month-old brother. Police kicked open a locked door to get to him. He was lying in a portable crib and wearing only a heavily soiled diaper. There was a pile of dirty diapers nearby.

He didn’t cry or move, and officers first believed he was dead, the deputy prosecutor wrote. An officer found a pulse and rolled the baby onto his back. The boy moved his eyes, but the rest of his body was still.

All three children were taken to a hospital. They were dirty and reeked of urine and feces.

A forensic nurse told detectives that the infant was severely hypothermic. Given his low core body temperature, “she would have expected him to die within 24 hours had he not been given treatment,” Wetmore wrote.

The children were placed in protective custody.

Dorson has since bailed out of jail. Foley remains behind bars. She told investigators she is pregnant and had smoked methamphetamine the day before her arrest, court papers said.

Both are expected in court next week to answer the charges.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.