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20 years later, father faces murder charge in girl's death

Prosecutors: She died in '06 from ' 86 injuries.

By THOMAS LAKE
Published October 27, 2006

Time cheated Christina Welch. In a few seconds of anger, at the dawn of her life, she was shaken so hard that her brain froze forever.

As others her age stood and walked and drove cars and went to the prom, she sat in a wheelchair and bit herself. She spent more than 19 years on earth, much of it in a back brace and diapers.

Some might call it living. Prosecutors will call it dying.

They plan to argue in court that her death in March was the direct result of injuries her father caused in Hudson 20 years ago, when she was barely 2 months old.

Her father, Christopher Michael Wells, 39, surrendered to authorities late Thursday morning in Monticello, Ga., about 60 miles southeast of Atlanta, to face a Pasco County indictment of first-degree murder.

The case may test the limits of delayed cause and effect. Of half a dozen experts interviewed by the Times, none could recall a murder prosecution with so many years between injury and death.

According to court papers, Wells told a detective from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office that he slapped Christina, shook her, juggled her and put his hand over her mouth -- all to stop her crying.

She had broken ribs and thumbprints on her face when she went to a hospital, according to doctor depositions in the initial child-abuse case. There was a bulge in the soft spot on her skull. Some of her injuries matched those of a drowning victim.

Both parents, Christopher and Tina Marie Wells, were convicted of child abuse in 1989. They served prison time, got out and, according to Tina Marie, won a court order to regain custody of their other children.

Christina stayed in the care of Maureen Welch, a New Port Richey foster mother who later adopted her. She missed one milestone after another.

Even as her body grew, her head stayed the same size, Dr. Andrew Gellady, who first saw her in 1987, said in a legal deposition. At nearly 3 years old, she had the reflexes of an infant. She responded not to sights or sounds, but to pain.

"What pleasure did she get in life?" said former caregiver Linda Bell. "I don't know of much."

Bell wants justice for the girl she called Beanie.

"She had beautiful reddish hair, but she couldn't see it or decide how she wanted to wear it," Bell said. "She was in a wheelchair her whole short life and only went where others decided."

Christina died March 15, and District Six Chief Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin performed her autopsy eight days later. He ruled the death a homicide caused by complications of blunt-force trauma.

According to an affidavit from a sheriff's detective, Thogmartin concluded that the injuries from 1986 eventually caused Christina's death.

After the Sheriff's Office announced a homicide investigation in August, the Wells family left Moon Lake for Georgia. A grand jury indicted Christopher Wells on Tuesday, and deputies from the Jasper County Sheriff's Office went looking for him Thursday morning. He turned himself in before noon.

Tina Marie Wells could not be reached for comment Thursday. A young man who identified himself as a family member was spotted at the family home in Moon Lake in early afternoon. Before walking inside, he condemned the indictment.

Wells will go before a Georgia judge in the next few days to discuss extradition. If he doesn't fight it, he could be brought back to Florida within two weeks.

If convicted, he could receive the death penalty. If executed, he could choose his last meal.

Christina couldn't. Her system had gone so haywire that she couldn't eat.

Her nourishment flowed in through a tube, Bell said:

"Beanie never had a piece of birthday cake."

Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245.

[Last modified October 27, 2006, 06:38:38]