Former foster mom admits to tossing 2-year-old

Former foster mom admits to tossing 2-year-old

February 05, 2010 4:11 PM
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
Jules Lynn Cuneo admitted throwing a 2-year-old foster child across her living room out of anger because the child would not talk to her.

Jurors in Cuneo’s first-degree murder trial Friday watched a video of an intense two-hour interview in which the 36-year-old former foster mom gradually changed her story about how Alizé Vick sustained what prosecutors contend was a fatal brain injury.

The interview occurred on Oct. 9, 2007 while the little girl was still clinging to life at Memorial Hospital. She would die the next day of a closed head injury. Cuneo’s lawyer has suggested that the fall may have aggravated an injury that others were responsible for.

At first, Cuneo told Sheriff’s Investigator Cliff Porter that Alizé fell out of her lap while they were playing “horsey” and hit her head and neck on the edge of a table in the living room of her southern El Paso County home on Oct. 9, 2007.

But after Porter confronted her with evidence that a two-foot fall could not have caused such severe damage, Cuneo broke down and gave a different explanation.

“I pushed her like that and she hit the floor,” Cuneo said, demonstrating with her arms.

“To be honest, I didn’t think that would have harmed her,” Cuneo added. “I remember pushing her because she wouldn’t talk to me…It had been a week that she hadn’t talked to me.”

Alizé and her 9-month-old brother had been placed with Cuneo after El Paso County Human Services took them away from her biological parents, both of whom previously had been jailed.

Both biological parents, Christopher Vick and Ashley Lindenberger, have been sitting in the courtroom since testimony began on Thursday. They listened as Porter wore down Cuneo’s initial explanation of an innocent fall.

Cuneo had just brought her twin daughters plus the two foster children back to her home at 11580 Calle Corvo after a trip to Target. Initially, Cuneo claimed that Alizé had tumbled out of a Ford Expedition and landed face first in the parking lot.

When they got home, Alizé undressed and got ready to put her pajamas on, Cuneo said.

“I was giving her a pony ride,” she told Porter. “Yes she did hit the table and when she didn’t talk to me, I pushed her.”

“I think that is when I went ahead and threw her off my lap. I didn’t think I pushed her that hard.”

“OK, when you threw her what happened to her?” Porter asked.

“She hit the table again,” Cuneo said, explaining that Alizé landed on the other side of the coffee table and hit the floor. She picked her up.

“That’s when I did see her roll her eyes back.”

After trying to revive the girl in the shower, Cuneo said she called 911.

“Are you going to take my kids away?” she asked the detective.

“Way cart before the horse,” Porter replied before going outside to get Cuneo some soda. While he was gone, the video showed Cuneo sitting in a corner with her head in one hand, sobbing.

Investigators then arrested Cuneo and initiated proceedings that did lead to Human Services taking custody of her twin daughters.

The trial had recessed Thursday after a juror fainted during testimony. That juror returned to the panel on Friday. Testimony resumes on Tuesday.



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http://www.gazette.com/articles/cuneo-93740-foster-year.html