Parents sue babysitter convicted of boy's death

In the lawsuit, the couple also names the owner of the home where the death occurred.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 6, 2001

CLEARWATER -- The parents of a 9-month-old baby killed last year are suing the babysitter serving time in prison for hitting the child after she became irritated at his cries.

The couple filed a $30-million wrongful death lawsuit in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court against Shara Willhoite and her grandmother-in-law, Edna Rehm, who they say allowed Willhoite to live at her Largo house where the killing occurred.

Willhoite, the 21-year-old Largo mother of two young children, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder in April and was sentenced to 201/2 years in prison for the death of Blake Peter Solis.

"Willhoite failed to exercise reasonable care to warn the parents, grandparents or other relatives of Blake Peter Solis that she was emotionally unfit and not mentally stable to babysit the infant child, or was otherwise untrained and incapable of appropriately providing reasonable care and supervision," according to the lawsuit.

Amy Reed, Blake's mother, sued on Friday on behalf of herself and Blake's father, Louis Solis III.

Blake's family members were friends and neighbors of Willhoite and her husband, Phil. She had been babysitting the child for several months.

The baby's grandmother, Kathleen Howdeshell, noticed something was wrong when she picked up the child from Willhoite's house at 618 34th St. SE. The boy was lethargic and could not be awakened.

The child was taken to a pediatrician and then flown by helicopter to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, where he died June 7, 2000. He had bruises on his brain and multiple skull fractures.

Willhoite told police that the baby had been sleeping on a blanket on the floor when she opened the door to check on him. She said the baby had apparently crawled closer to the door, which she said accidentally hit the baby on the head.

But police said she injured him by picking him up from the floor and "forcibly placing" him back on the floor to get him to stop crying.

Reed's attorney, Gregory Perenich, could not be reached. Rehm declined to comment.

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