Perry County couple to plead guilty to child endangerment in 4 year old's death Friday

The mother and stepfather of a boy who died in 2005 from a severe infection will be in court Friday to plead guilty to three felonies.

Emily Altom and Michael Altom are scheduled to go before Circuit Judge Tracy L. Storie in Rolla, Mo., where they will enter pleas on child endangerment charges. Voluntary manslaughter charges alleging that the couple was medically negligent in the death of Ethan Patrick Williams are being dropped as part of a plea bargain.

Williams was 4 years old when he died Aug. 25, 2005, at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. His death came at the end of a 25-day hospitalization in which he was treated for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a virulent bacteria that invaded his leg bone, blood and lungs.

The Altoms were charged with child endangerment based on the immense filth discovered by law enforcement and child welfare workers when they visited the couple's rural Perry County mobile home. The Altoms lived in the home with Ethan, Ethan's older brother and younger half-brother.

Custody of the two surviving children has been split, with the older boy living with his father, Danny Wayne Williams, and the younger child living with Emily Altom's mother.

Last week, Perry County Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Hoeh and defense attorneys Allen Moss and Wayne Keller jointly filed a stipulation absolving the Altoms of criminal responsibility for Ethan's death. The stipulation said that the Altoms would plead guilty to the three child endangerment felonies and that Hoeh would recommend probation on the charges.

The child endangerment charges are Class C felonies and the Altoms could each be sentenced to up to seven years on each count. Judges are not bound by recommendations included with plea bargains.

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