Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder (3) R.I.P.

Oregon Couple Charged With Murder in Death of 3 yr old
http://www.2news.tv/news/local/81139392.html

SANDY, Ore. - A couple was arrested Sunday on murder charges after a 3-year-old was found dead the day before at a home in rural Sandy.

Donald L. Cockrell, 27, and Michelle Nicole Smith, 24, face murder charges and are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in connection with the death of the child, who police have not named.

The arrests come after officers responded to a home in the 22000 block of Southeast Cottontail Lane and discovered a 3-year-old dead inside.

Details about what happened to the child have not been released due to the ongoing investigation but major crime scene units were at the scene once the body was found.

According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, the child was living at the home with Cockrell, the biological father. Smith is Cockrell's fiance. Police say neither has a criminal record.

Several people live in the home, including Smith's parents, who live apart from their daughter on a separate level of the house. Smith and Cockrell live in another portion of the home with five children - two of whom are Cockrell's biological children (which includes the one found dead) and three of whom are Smith's children.

An autopsy was performed on the young victim at the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office in Clackamas. Results are expected to be released on Monday.

Meanwhile, the four children that were in the home were taken into protective custody.

http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/81139392.html

Sandy girl, 3, was beaten, starved to death, prosecutors say
Published: Monday, January 11, 2010

OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County judge found photos of a 3-year-old Sandy girl who died from abuse and malnutrition so "graphic and disturbing" that he had them sealed in an envelope that can be opened only with the court's permission.

Court documents filed Monday revealed that the girl's sister was also injured in what prosecutors called "assault and torture" by the parents.


Judge Douglas V. Van Dyk on Monday ordered the state Department of Human Services to take temporary custody of four surviving children of Donald Lee Cockrell and Michelle Nicole Smith, the Sandy couple charged with starving and beating Cockrell's 3-year-old daughter to death.

Deputy District Attorney Colleen Gilmartin described the scene in the couple's home as horrific and dangerous to all of the children, all age 5 or younger.

Cockrell, 27, and his fiancée, Smith, 24, are being held without bail in the Clackamas County Jail.

In a separate courtroom later Monday, Cockrell and Smith were arraigned on charges of murder by abuse, appearing by video before Judge Robert D. Herndon. They entered no pleas and asked the court to provide attorneys for them.

Deputy District Attorney Christine Landers said the case will be sent to a grand jury, where prosecutors will seek an indictment. The results of the grand jury's investigation will be brought to court Jan. 19.

Cockrell's daughter, Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder, died Saturday of "blunt force trauma and acute starvation," according to court documents Landers filed Monday.

The documents allege that Cockrell and Smith engaged in assault and torture of Alexis and her sister and that the sister showed "unexplained injuries consistent with child abuse."

Details of the sister's injuries and current condition were not released.

Van Dyk did not place the sister with her mother, Heather Marie Pounder, 22, of Gresham. Gilmartin said investigators believe Pounder has a substance-abuse problem that would prevent her from providing a safe home.

A preliminary hearing on the issue is set for Feb. 11.

Meanwhile, investigators are trying to find the fathers of Smith's children.

"They're all different fathers," Gilmartin said.

Detective Jim Strovink, Clackamas County sheriff's spokesman, said Lexi lived with her father and Smith in a home on Southeast Cottontail Lane, an isolated dead-end street in a rural area south of Sandy. The pale-blue, five-bedroom home, where Smith grew up, is owned by her parents, Eugene Calvin Smith, 55, and Kimberly Jean Smith, 53.

The elder Smiths live upstairs in separate quarters. Cockrell, Michelle Smith and the children lived downstairs. Lexi and her sister are Cockrell's children; the others are Smith's.

The children remain in a state shelter and are undergoing thorough medical exams.

Next-door neighbor Larry Ulrich remembers Michelle Smith as a "sweet girl" he would cheer on when he saw her pitch for Sandy High School's softball team.

Although Ulrich rarely spoke to the young couple, he always heard their children outside in the summer, playing in a large backyard that included fluorescent-blue swings, a playhouse and a mini jungle gym. The recent turn of events has been a shock to Ulrich and his neighbors, he said.

"It just doesn't make sense to me, knowing her parents," Ulrich said. "I still can't believe it -- especially the malnutrition."

Neither Cockrell nor Smith had arrest records, Strovink said. Sheriff's deputies were not called to the home to investigate any kind of child-abuse report. Citing privacy regulations, DHS officials declined to comment on any prior investigations at the address. None of the children was in foster care.

Both Cockrell and Smith formerly worked as state-licensed security guards for DePaul Industries, which provides security services to other businesses and agencies. On Monday, the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training issued an emergency suspension of their licenses, said Eriks Gabliks, the agency's interim director.

On Saturday, Pounder posted a message on her MySpace page, saying "r.i.p. alexis marie my angel I miss you such much."

On Monday, Pounder posted a message noting that Cockrell and Smith had been charged, ending with, "i love you baby girl and i."

Staff writer Nicole Dungca contributed to this report.

-- Rick Bella
http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_girl_died_from_assault_t.html

Sandy woman could face death penalty in child's torture death
Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2010

OREGON CITY -- A Clackamas County grand jury boosted charges to aggravated murder Tuesday for a Sandy-area woman accused of fatally torturing her fiance's 3-year-old daughter.

That means Michelle Nicole Smith, 24, could face the death penalty if convicted in the death of Alexis "Lexi" Marie Pounder, whose battered, emaciated body was found Jan. 9 in a home owned by her parents south of Sandy.


Smith also was charged with three counts of murder by abuse for allegedly starving Lexi and her sister. She also faces four counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment for "deliberate cruelty" by withholding food, physical care and medical attention.


Donald CockrellMeanwhile, her fiance, Donald Lee Cockrell, 27, was charged with one count of murder by abuse, alleging that he subjected Lexi to "blunt force trauma and chronic starvation." He also was charged with two counts of criminal mistreatment for allegedly withholding care.

Court documents did not explain the basis for the more serious charges against Smith and did not offer a motive in the girl's death.

The two pleaded not guilty at separate arraignments Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court. Both are being held without bail in the Clackamas County Jail.

Their joint trial was tentatively set for March 2.

Smith and Cockrell were arrested Jan. 10 after sheriff's deputies were called to a home on Southeast Cottontail Lane, a dead-end street in a rural area south of Sandy. The five-bedroom home, where Smith grew up, is owned by her parents, Eugene Calvin Smith, 55, and Kimberly Jean Smith, 53.

The elder Smiths live upstairs in separate quarters. Cockrell, Michelle Smith and the children lived downstairs. Lexi and her sister are Cockrell's children; the others are Smith's.

The four surviving children remain in a state shelter.

Both Cockrell and Smith worked in 2008 as security guards for DePaul Industries, which provides security services for other agencies and businesses. Dave Shaffer, DePaul chief executive officer, said Cockrell and Smith passed background checks but then proved to be unreliable.

The state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training has suspended their security guard licenses.

-- Rick Bella


http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/01/sandy_woman_could_face_death_p.html