The medical examiner says police interviews and letters the mother allegedly wrote helped her decide the boy was the victim of a homicide.
By Times Staff Writer
Published May 13, 2004
DADE CITY - Information from law enforcement officials might have helped a medical examiner determine that Kristina Gaime's son was the victim of a homicide.
In a deposition dated March 29, Lyann Goudie, an attorney for Gaime, questioned Dr. Marie Hansen, who performed the autopsy on 6-year-old Mathew Rotell's body. Mathew was found dead in Gaime's minivan, parked in her Land O'Lakes garage, in April 1999.
Hansen said a combination of factors helped her decide the death was a homicide, rather than an accident.
She said Mathew's body contained high levels of morphine, for which neither he nor his 8-year-old brother, Adam, had a prescription. She also said she was able to review police interviews about the events and letters Gaime had allegedly written, discussing her intentions to kill herself and her children.
Without this "data set," Hansen explained, "it may be more difficult to come to a decision."
"I may have ended up saying I couldn't necessarily tell," she said later in the deposition.
Goudie said Wednesday she would be continuing the deposition with Hansen sometime during the next month. She said her office received permission to redepose certain individuals after taking over Gaime's case in March 2003.
Gaime, 39, is charged with first-degree murder in Mathew's death. Prosecutors say she drugged both boys, seated them in her minivan and fed exhaust into the vehicle through a hose. Then she joined them inside the van.
Gaime's trial is scheduled for September, but first the 2nd District Court of Appeal must issue a ruling. About two weeks ago, prosecutors asked the court to overrule Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper's decision to exclude much of the evidence, including the letter that appeared to detail the incident.
