Woman Arrested 3 Months After Girl's Death

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- A Sheridan woman was arrested Thursday in connection with the September death of a 1-year-old Korean girl she and her husband were trying to adopt, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department said.

Rebecca Kyrie, 28, was being held on murder and other charges in connection with the death of Hei Min Chung, who police said had suffered head and brain injuries. An autopsy report this month declared the death a homicide.

Kyrie (pictured) called medics to her home on Sept. 3 because the girl -- whom the Kyries called Chaeli -- was frothing at the mouth and having trouble breathing, police said. Her husband was at work at the time, and her two biological sons were with her and the girl at home.

The girl was taken to St. Vincent Children's Hospital in Indianapolis, where she was diagnosed with a severe brain injury and died Sept. 4, authorities said.

According to a probable cause affidavit, a doctor who examined the girl told an investigator that the injuries were consistent with abusive head trauma, and that the force needed to cause the injuries "could be equated to the force associated with a severe car wreck."

Neither police nor the affidavit indicated what investigators believe Kyrie did to the child. Kyrie hasn't admitted to injuring her, Hamilton County sheriff's Deputy Vicky Dunbar said.

However, according to the affidavit, one of Kyrie's two sons -- a 6-year-old -- told an investigator that his mother told him not to say what happened to the girl.

Kyrie's brother, George Cooper, told 6News' Ray Cortopassi that the girl had been ill. He said he believes his sister didn't abuse the child, who had been in the U.S. for three months.

"There's every possibility in my mind that this was a pre-existing condition and that it just took time to bear itself out," Cooper said.

According to the affidavit, a doctor who examined the girl told police that the symptoms she exhibited would have happened within minutes to an hour of abuse.

Kyrie was being held Friday on charges of murder, aggravated battery, battery resulting in death and neglect of a dependent resulting in death.