south metro

An Eagan home daycare provider has been charged with manslaughter in the death of a baby in her care last year.

Beverly Anne Greenagel, 64, has been charged with two felony counts of second-degree manslaughter in the death of 3½-month-old Dane Ableidinger on Aug. 18, 2011, according to Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

She also faces one count each of the following gross misdemeanors: endangerment of a child, neglect of a child and interference with a death scene.

According to a release from Backstrom:

Greenagel laid the baby down for a nap. He was found to be unresponsive by a 12-year-old who was at the daycare and noticed the baby was face-down and not breathing. Authorities were called right away and were unable to resuscitate the boy.

At first, the Dakota County medical examiner was unable to determine a cause of death for the baby. Then, after performing genetic tests to see whether the baby could have suffered any diseases leading to heart problems and finding nothing, the medical examiner ruled that the baby’s death was the result of “probable positional asphyxia.”

Initially, Greenagel told investigators that she had put the baby in a crib, but then she changed her story and said she put him face-down on a folded blanket on the floor.

At the time of the incident, Greenagel was licensed to care for up to 12 children without a second caregiver present. She was alone on Aug. 18, and investigators determined that 20 children were present, including 13 who were preschool-age or younger. That number of children exceeded all day care licensing capacity categories.