Mother charged in child’s death

Douglas County prosecutors have charged a 25-year-old Lawrence woman with manslaughter in connection with the death of her 5-year-old child three months ago.

Rebecca Lynn Wynne

The child had ingested opiates before its death, said District Attorney Charles Branson.

Rebecca Lynn Wynne is charged with reckless involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated child endangerment of two other children, ages 6 and 4. All three are Wynne’s children.

In a written statement, the district attorney said autopsy reports indicated the 5-year-old died after ingesting opiates during the evening of April 27. Branson said the alleged incident occurred at Wynne’s residence in the 1500 block of Delaware Street.

According to jail records, Wynne was arrested Wednesday afternoon at her home.

And Thursday afternoon, she appeared before pro-tem Judge James George, who set her bond at $25,000 with the condition that she not have contact with the children, who are in protective custody. He appointed defense attorney J.C. Gilroy to represent her.

Lawrence police detectives and coroner Dr. Erik Mitchell investigated the case, according to the court records. Sgt. Trent McKinley, a Lawrence police spokesman, referred questions Thursday morning to Branson’s office.

Wynne’s mother, Teresa Wynne, said Thursday morning she could not comment about specifics of the case, but she defended her daughter.

“Rebecca would never hurt her kids, ever,” she said.

Wynne is next scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 2.

— Reporter George Diepenbrock can be reached at 832-7144. Follow him at Twitter.com/gdiepenbrock.

–Reporter Andy Hyland contributed to this story.

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified a gender for one of the victims in the case. Prosecutors have not revealed the genders of any of the victims.