BRUCE RUSHTON| State Journal-Register
A Sangamon County grand jury Thursday indicted Mason L. Weems in the death of Anakin Credit, a 2-year-old Springfield boy who died in 2008.
Weems, 28, of Springfield is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child. He was booked into the Sangamon County Jail Thursday night and was being held on $500,000 bond.
Former Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone ruled three years ago, based on an autopsy by Dr. Jessica Bowman, that Anakin died of a cancer that had gone undiagnosed. Boone stuck by that conclusion even after two pathologists concluded that the boy had been a victim of abuse.
“It’s extremely emotional for us,” Michele Credit, Anakin’s grandmother, said Thursday. “We were starting to deal with things. We really did think we had lost him to cancer. We believed the coroner.”
Anakin was rushed to St. John’s Hospital on March 11, 2008, after Weems, the boyfriend of the boy’s mother, called 911. The boy fell in a bathtub, then had trouble breathing, Weems told police.
Anakin died shortly after arriving at the hospital. Employees were suspicious enough that they told police they planned to call the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Police closed their investigation after Boone ruled that Anakin died from cancer, but the DCFS inspector general reopened the probe in 2009.
Since then, Dr. Mary Case of St. Louis and Dr. J. Scott Denton of Bloomington have both concluded that Anakin died violently.
In a report to DCFS, Case said that Anakin was strangled, but a blow to his abdomen could, by itself, have been fatal. Denton determined that Anakin died from being struck in the abdomen. The boy had a laceration on his liver and 400 milliliters of blood inside his abdomen.
After the state reopened the death investigation, doctors in Michigan who analyzed tissue samples could find no evidence of malignancy.
Boone could not be reached for comment Thursday. A man who answered the phone at Bowman’s home said the doctor would not speak with a reporter.
Jon Gray Noll, a Springfield criminal defense attorney, said he does not believe the conflicting medical opinions will hinder prosecutors.
“I believe that two out-does one, and I believe the one who said it was natural has been somewhat discredited in other cases,” Noll said. “I’ve seen all three of them testify in murder trials. The defense is going to have to call Bowman. I’ve seen Mary Case in several cases that I’ve had, and she is a very persuasive witness, as is Dr. Denton.”
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser said this spring that he would no longer call Bowman as a witness in murder cases, and pending cases involving her work would be reviewed by Denton.
Milhiser and other top county officials, including Sheriff Neil Williamson and County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter, tried to convince Boone to stop using Bowman. When the coroner indicated she would continue to employ Bowman, they forced Boone’s resignation.
Credit said she plans to attend Weems’ trial.
“I’ve got to know the truth, I’ve got to know what happened to my grandson,” Credit said. “Hopefully, now, the truth will come out, and his true (cause of) death will be on the death certificate.”
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Pathologists say abuse, not bathtub fall, led to boy's death
Mason L. Weems told police that 2-year-old Anakin Credit fell in the bathtub.
Weems, the boyfriend of Anakin’s mother, was caring for Anakin while the woman was at work on March 11, 2008. He said he was giving Anakin a bath and had turned his back to reach for a towel while giving Anakin a bath and heard the child fall. Anakin was underwater for no more than a few seconds, the boyfriend told investigators, according to police reports.
After drying the boy, Weems told police he put Anakin on a couch and got him a grape, but Anakin refused it, so he laid the child on a bed and went to the kitchen while the boy fell asleep. Minutes later, Anakin screamed, then turned blue and had trouble breathing, Weems reportedly told investigators.
The child died shortly after arriving at St. John’s Hospital.
Besides a laceration on his liver and blood in his abdomen, Anakin had bruises on his forehead, stomach and neck. Weems told police Anakin had been banging his head on the floor; the child’s mother told investigators that she intended to have the boy tested for autism.
Dr. Jessica Bowman, who performed an autopsy on Anakin, concluded that the boy died from cancer and found no sign of foul play. She blamed any bruises on resuscitative efforts.
“There is no sign of trauma that would under normal circ*mstances be lethal,” Bowman wrote in the autopsy report.
But Dr. Mary Case of St. Louis and Dr. J. Scott Denton of Bloomington, who reviewed the case at the request of the inspector general for the state Department of Children and Family Services, disagreed.
Contusions on Anakin’s abdomen were consistent with knuckle marks, Denton wrote in his report. Case agreed that the death was a case of homicide and flatly rejected Bowman’s cancer finding.
“The small blue cell tumor is an entirely incidental findings (sic) and of no significance in the death of the child,” Case wrote in her report.
Bowman subsequently changed her opinion of the cause of death, but still insisted that Anakin’s death was from natural causes. In a rebuttal to Denton’s report spiced with words written in capital letters, Bowman last year wrote that “a basic knowledge of medicine” was needed to understand the case.
“This review and opinions are given in a reasonable degree of medical certainty based upon available information INCLUDING having performed the actual autopsy, and my training, knowledge and experience as a Board Certified Clinical and Anatomic Pathologist with diagnosis of living patients AS WELL as training, knowledge and experience in forensic pathology,” Bowman wrote at the conclusion of her rebuttal.
Unlike Case and Denton, Bowman is not board-certified in forensic pathology.
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Timeline
March 11, 2008: Anakin Credit, 2, dies after being rushed to St. John's Hospital. Springfield police close their investigation after pathologist Dr. Jessica Bowman, hired by Sangamon County Coroner Susan Boone, concludes that the boy died of cancer.
Fall 2009: Report to state Department of Children and Family Services by Dr. Mary Case of St. Louis says Anakin died from abuse.
April 7, 2010: The State Journal-Register reports that the Anakin Credit case has been reopened and that other pathologists have rejected Bowman’s conclusions.
April 29, 2010: Family of Patrick Burns, who died after struggle with sheriff’s deputies, alleges that Boone botched that investigation, asks state’s attorney to conduct a criminal probe of the coroner’s office.
May 2010: Sangamon County Board votes to conduct a management audit of Boone’s office, but agrees to hold off until the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor’s Office finishes the criminal probe.
June 2010: State police seize files from coroner’s office. In an affidavit, police say they suspect that Boone’s record-keeping is so shoddy it constitutes criminal conduct.
November 2010: The county board slashes Boone’s budget by nearly 50 percent, funding her office for six months instead of a full fiscal year.
March 23, 2011: After meeting with Boone, top county officials say the coroner has agreed to replace Bowman with Dr. Scott Denton, a pathologist from the Bloomington area.
March 28, 2011: Boone issues a press release stating that she will continue using Bowman.
March 30, 2011: County Board Chairman Andy Van Meter says he will support a resolution to abolish the coroner's office and temporarily assign duties to Sheriff Neil Williamson.
April 4, 2011: Boone issues resignation statement.
June 16, 2011: Grand jury charges Mason Weems, 28, of Springfield with murdering Anakin Credit.
Sources: SJ-R archives, Sangamon County
