A Michigan couple has been accused of homicide after their 10-month-old daughter died of dehydration and malnutrition, WOOD-TV reports.
Police on Friday asked prosecutors to charge the couple – Seth Welch and Tatania Fusari, both 27 – in connection with the Thursday death of the girl, named Mary.
Welch had posted on Facebook about his daughter’s passing.
“Heart is about shattered right now,” he wrote. “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.”
Heart is about shattered right now. Woke up to Mary dead in her bed this morning – this evening had our children…
Posted by Seth Welch on Thursday, August 2, 2018
Police found Mary unresponsive inside the family’s house in Solon Township, about 25 miles north of Grand Rapids. An autopsy later determined Mary died from dehydration and malnutrition because of neglect.
Welch and Fusari, who have two other children, are both behind bars at the Kent County Jail and could be formally charged as early as Monday. The couple operated a farm at their home where they grew produce and sold honey, according to the television station. Welch also had various signs in the yard professing his faith.
“Repent. Believe. Obey,” one sign reads.
Welch also posted videos to Facebook in which he read Bible verses and lectured against “worldly” possessions.
“Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil,” Welch says in one video.
In another clip, he attacked vaccinations.
“It didn’t seem smart that you would be saving people who weren’t the fittest,” Welch says in the recording. “If evolution believes in survival of the fittest, why are we vaccinating everybody? Shouldn’t we just let the weak die off and let the strong survive?”
Posted by Seth Welch on Wednesday, November 29, 2017
He admitted in the video that child protective services contacted him after he initially refused to vaccinate his first daughter. The younger of his two children, including the baby who died, were not vaccinated.
Neighbor Jerry Seavers said he would sometimes visit with the family but that they never discussed religion.
“I’ve seen people that they don’t take care of their kids real well, but I thought they did pretty good with them,” Seavers said.
He added that he saw Mary three weeks before her death and believed she “looked good.”
Child protective services had not been in contact with the family for at least two years, according to the television station.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office had been called to the home once previously but not in relation to the kids.
[Feature Photo: Mary Welch/Facebook]
