Airman, girlfriend will stand trial in death of toddler

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

Police Detective Robert Wamsley testified Friday that he warned the baby's mother, Dawn Mathiesen, not to leave the child alone with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Brandon Parish.

Parish has been charged with murder in the April 18 death of 21-month-old Samantha Storm. Her mother faces a second-degree murder charge. Police say they suspected Parish of abusing the baby and had warned Mathiesen to keep her daughter away from Parish.

A trial date has been set for June 18.

On Thursday, airman Jeff Fisher testified at the preliminary hearing that he heard what sounded like repeated slaps of a hand against a diaper coming from Parish's room, then entered the room to find an infant looking dazed.

The incident occurred the same day Samantha died.

Fisher said Mathiesen left Samantha in Parish's care at his military dorm while she went to get something to eat.

Fisher said he went to visit Parish and was standing outside the door when he heard the noise, then a baby crying.

He entered the bedroom and Parish told him "he was throwing the baby up in the air and the baby got scared," Fisher testified

During the conversation he said Samantha was sitting on the bed "dazed off, staring at the wall."

"I figured that maybe the baby was born with a disability. She didn't seem like a normal child," Fisher testified.

Fisher said he then left Parish's room, discussed the matter with another friend, and returned to check out the situation.

He also said Mathiesen didn't seem concerned.

Earlier in the hearing, Mathiesen's aunt said she suspected Parish of abusing Samantha because of several bruises she saw on the baby before she died. But, she said, Mathiesen had denied Parish touched the girl until after she learned both were suspects in the death.

A Clark County medical examiner testified Samantha died from brain swelling caused by blunt trauma to her head consistent with her having been thrown against a hard object or surface.