Father Found Guilty, Mom Takes Plea Deal After Starving Daughter For ‘Religious Reasons’

Faith Healing Kills: Conservative Christian parents in Michigan who refused to get their dying daughter medical attention because of “religious reasons” now face 25 years to life in prison.

The Cedars Spring Post reports:

Seth Michael Welch, 28, was found guilty of felony murder and first-degree child abuse for the death of his 10-month-old daughter, Mary, who only weighed 8 pounds at the time of her death.

Welch’s wife, Tatiana Elena Fusari, 28, was awaiting trial, but decided to plead no contest Wednesday to second-degree murder and second-degree child abuse. As part of the plea agreement, she will serve a minimum of 25 years in prison. No contest is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such at sentencing. 

Previously Progressive Secular Humanist reported that Seth Michael Welch and Tatiana Elena Fusari of Cedar Springs, Michigan, were arrested and charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse after allowing their 10-month-old daughter, Mary Welch, to die of malnutrition and dehydration.

The couple told authorities they refused to get medical attention for their starving and suffering daughter because of “religious reasons.”

A police affidavit obtained by WOOD-TV notes:

During interviews with both parents, admissions were made that they were aware of Mary Welch’s skinny appearance and low weight for at least one month prior to this date.

Tatiana Fusari admitted during the interview that they failed to reach out for medical help with their daughter for fear of having her children removed by Child Protective Services, lack of faith and trust in the medical services and religious reasons.

Feeling sorry for himself after being arrested, Seth Welch posted about his daughter’s death on his Facebook page:

Heart is about shattered right now.

Woke up to Mary dead in her bed this morning – this evening had our children removed and placed on “no contact” because Tati and I are the worst parents ever – Thankfully they are with grandma and grandpa

Just numb inside right now. And I’m really enjoying the loving embrace of an isolation cell from the cops and government employees who keep assuring me “they are only here to help”.

On his Facebook page Welch denounced doctors, claiming:

They’re priesthoods of the medical cult.

Welch was also opposed to vaccines, at one point declaring:

The righteous shall live by faith. It’s God who is sovereign over disease and those sorts of things and, of course, ultimately deaths.

Raw Story reports that the couple ran a farm north of Grand Rapids, noting:

The deeply religious family had decorated the farm, which includes a U-Pick, with signs that read “Repent. Believe. Obey.”

Bottom line: After the father was found guilty, and the mom took a plea deal, a Christian couple in Michigan who refused to get their dying daughter medical attention because of “religious reasons” now face 25 years to life in prison.

Father Found Guilty, Mom Takes Plea Deal After Starving Daughter For ‘Religious Reasons’ (Image via Screen Grab)