Lakeville mom pleads guilty to daughter's death in tub

A Lakeville woman whose 11-month-old daughter drowned in the bathtub while her mother shopped online for shoes pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of second-degree manslaughter.

Katherine Bodem, 38, had been charged with the death of Cecilia Bodem, whom she had left with her 2-year-old brother in a bathtub while Bodem was on the Internet.

"I'm glad she's accepted responsibility for this tragedy," said Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom. Sentencing guidelines call for prison time of up to four years, he said, but he will seek a shorter sentence that could put her in jail for up to a year. "I'm going to look very closely at her psychological evaluation before I recommend a sentence."

Friends and family members of Bodem have said she suffers from depression and needs professional help, and some have said she had a history of neglecting her children long before Cecilia died.

According to the Dakota County attorney's office, Bodem called 911 about 5:45 p.m. Aug. 25 to report that a child was not breathing. Officers arrived and found Cecilia unresponsive. Neighbors had administered CPR and tried unsuccessfully to revive the infant.

Bodem's 10-year-old daughter told police that her mom had placed Cecilia and the 2-year-old in a bathtub unattended on the main floor, then went downstairs to use the computer. The mother didn't check on the children until the 2-year-old came downstairs and indicated that something was wrong, the attorney's office said.

A forensic examination of Bodem's computer showed that she had been using the Internet search engines to search for shoes for 19 minutes before she placed the 911 call.

No other adult was in the house at the time of the incident.

Bodem underwent psychological testing this spring, but neither her attorney, Kevin Shea, nor Backstrom would comment on the results.

Bodem has been seeing counselors, and her sentence will likely include the requirement that she continues working with them, Shea said. "If she does that, I don't believe she poses a threat to anybody," he said.

But one former longtime friend of Bodem's disagreed. "I myself would not trust her alone with my children, ever," said Rachel Bennett of Mankato, who said that the Bodems have cut ties with family and friends since Katherine Bodem was charged in Cecilia's death.

Bodem had been free on bond during pretrial court proceedings on the condition that she not have unsupervised contact with her four children, who were in the custody of her husband, Todd. But the court has now lifted that, Shea said.

"I think she's dealing with all these issues in a very appropriate and responsible manner," he said. "She's aware of what happened, and she has assumed responsibility for what happened to her family, and she's facing that situation head-on."

Bodem will be sentenced May 19.

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