Ex-Minnesota EMT providing child care admits severely injuring baby’s brain and not calling 911

A former western Minnesota home child care provider and emergency medical technician has admitted to shaking a baby boy and inflicting severe brain damage, then neglecting to call 911.

Crystal Rose Searle, 37, of Donnelly, pleaded guilty Monday in Stevens County District Court to child endangerment resulting in substantial harm in connection with the injuries suffered by Murray Cole Foss, who was 2 months old at the time of the incident on March 14, 2022.

The plea agreement between the prosecution and the defense calls for a jail term of no more than six months. Searle also agreed to pay the family restitution in an amount yet to be determined.

Searle remains free on bond ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 3 before Judge Benjamin Wilcox.

State licensing records show that Searle was a certified emergency medical technician at the time she injured Murray. Regulators ordered her in January 2023 to “cease and desist” any duties as an EMT.

Minnesota law requires a license to provide child care for more than one family unrelated to the provider. State records do not show Searle being licensed at the time she harmed Murray.

“What happened in this case is every parent’s worst nightmare,” read a statement from Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office prosecuted the case on behalf of the Stevens County Attorney’s Office. “When you leave your child with a caretaker, that caretaker has a responsibility to get that child emergency medical care when needed. Searle failed to do so, and ... she faced justice for that.”

A year after Murray’s injuries, the Fosses disclosed on the CaringBridge medical update website that their son was receiving weekly therapy. At age 14 months, the posting continued, Murray was able to sit up, scoot and was close to crawling.

According to the criminal complaint and related court filings:

Searle noticed that Murray needed immediate medical care but chose to not call 911 and waited for 45 minutes for Shannon Foss to pick up her son.

Shannon Foss, who lives north of Hancock, immediately took the boy to the Stevens County Medical Center, where doctors found the boy was in critical condition from brain injuries that required surgery. Murray was transported by air ambulance to Children’s Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis.

According to a doctor in Stevens County, Shannon Foss told him she took Murray to day care about 8:30 that morning. She said Searle contacted her in the afternoon and asked that she get her son.

A doctor at Children’s told the Sheriff’s Office that the baby’s “injuries were consistent with shaking” and that Murray’s chance of survival was uncertain.

Searle told the Sheriff’s Office that she started caring for Murray the previous week. She said that also in her home that day were her children, ages 18 months and 3 years.

She initially explained that around 3:15 p.m., “the commotion of others in the house woke up” Murray, the complaint read.

Searle said Murray awakened with a jolt. She said his demeanor changed, and he was “crying very hard and stiff,” the complaint continued. He fluctuated from returning to normal to being rigid for the next 30 to 45 minutes, Searle said.

She said she contacted Shannon Foss about 4 p.m. about her son’s condition.

She demonstrated while being questioned how she grabbed Murray under his armpits and held him away from her.

Searle said she recalled saying, “I don’t know what to do with you.” and then showed how she shook the baby back and forth, the complaint continued. She admitted that she might not have realized at the time how hard she shook the baby.