Prosecutors will dismiss the manslaughter case against the mother of a 1-year-old girl who died after she was left alone for hours in a hot SUV in June, the Douglas County district attorney announced Monday.
Investigators found no evidence to show Nicole Engler, 38, was aware daughter Remington Engler was still in the car when she arrived at work in the morning, or when she returned to her Honda CRV a few hours later to get coffee nearby, District Attorney Richard Wesenberg said at a news conference.
Engler thought she dropped her child off at day care.
Her husband typically took the toddler to day care in the mornings because he works a night shift, Wesenberg said. But on June 21, Engler decided to do it because her husband was still sleeping. She drove past the day care and went straight to work, according to Wesenberg.
Engler’s SUV was parked that day in an area of her work parking lot with little foot traffic, the district attorney said. The back windows in the car were tinted.
Engler wasn’t impaired, and all indications showed Remington was “loved and cared for in every way a mother and a father could,” according to the district attorney.
He said that a backseat mirror in the SUV was not adjusted properly for Engler, so it would not have reflected Remington still in the car.
“I recognize that reasonable minds may differ on whether criminal charges should be pursued,” Wesenberg said. “But I have made my decision based on the totality of the evidence that is available to me, the limits of Oregon law in this matter and the likelihood a conviction can be obtained.”
Wesenberg said he consulted with a state psychiatrist as part of the investigation to help explain Engler’s mental state at the time. The doctor also determined that Engler’s actions weren’t out of criminal negligence. The district attorney said Oregon law doesn’t specifically address children who die after being left in vehicles. In states that do have those laws, it has to be proven that the act was done on purpose.
The Douglas County Medical Examiner’s Office in June ruled Remington Engler’s death was an accident. She died of hyperthermia, which is a condition that occurs when the body overheats.
The temperature high was near 80 degrees on the day the child died, according to the National Weather Service. It was likely hotter inside the SUV.
Engler was arrested the same day she discovered her daughter inside the SUV. She told police she left her job at a Roseburg medical center around 4 p.m. to pick up Remington from day care and saw the child still in her car seat blue and unconscious, court records show. The mother reported that she thought she had dropped her daughter off that morning at day care about a mile and a half away.
Remington was later pronounced dead at a hospital in the area.
Roseburg police at the time said Engler was arrested because there was probable cause she caused her daughter’s death by neglect. The mother was released from jail the next day on bail. Her release agreement was modified August 14 to allow her to drive again.
David Terry, Engler’s attorney, said she is “ecstatic and relieved” to learn earlier Monday that the second-degree manslaughter accusation against her would be dismissed. He said she’s been inlimbo since the death of her daughter and was leaning on the support of family and friends.
“It’s difficult enough just to deal with the tragic loss of your only child, but to do so against the back drop of not knowing whether you’re going to be indicted, taken to trial and lose your freedom for the next 10 years, this has all been very, very hard for Nicole and her family,” Terry said.
He said he was grateful authorities reevaluated Engler’s case and determined “losing a child was punishment enough.”
The attorney said Engler, a pediatric nurse, returned to work last week mostly restricted to desk duty. The Oregon State Board of Nursing asked Engler to voluntarily surrender her license after her arrest, but Terry said the two parties negotiated that she would stop practicing until the criminal case was resolved, he said. Now that the case is dismissed, Terry said Engler hopes to return to her full duties at work.
The attorney said as Engler continues to grieve for her daughter, she still has “a very deep sense of care and compassion,” for her patients.
