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March 28, 2024

Caregiver: Boy who died in hot vehicle had stale urine smell earlier at church

Trial continues for parents accused in death of 4-year-old who died of heat stress

Rimers

Photos from Metro Police

Colleen Rimer and Stanley Rimer

Updated Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 | 6:05 p.m.

When Jason Rimer was brought to church on June 8, 2008, — the same day he died of heat stress after being left in a hot family SUV — he had some hygiene issues, a church caregiver told a Clark County jury Tuesday.

"He had a stale urine smell ... It was not a normal urine smell. It was a stale urine smell," said Andrea Perry, who frequently took care of the 4-year-old boy at the church's nursery and preschool.

"He had a lot of flakes in his hair," Perry said. "... His hands were really dirty. His fingernails were really black."

Perry was among several witnesses who testified Tuesday in the trial of Stanley and Colleen Rimer, who are charged with second-degree murder and multiple counts of child abuse, neglect and endangerment in Jason's 2008 death.

The trial, which began last week, will continue on Wednesday morning before Judge Douglas Herndon.

Police said his body was found after 17 hours, still strapped in his seat in the vehicle, after the family had returned from church.

Prosecutors are trying to demonstrate that the Rimers had a history of neglect and abuse of their eight children, which led to the tragedy of Jason being forgotten in the vehicle.

Perry, who was a witness for the state, said she agreed with a statement that she had given to police about the Rimer family — that the children were the boy's primary caregiver, not the parents.

She said the general impression of the Rimer boys was "their hygiene was always poor."

However, Perry said she never felt compelled to talk to any of the officials at the church about what she had seen when she had to take care of the boys at church, but she now feels "guilty" that that she should have.

In other testimony, Dr. Alane Olson, a medical examiner for the Clark County Coroner's office, told the jury that when she began doing the autopsy on the boy, she noticed that his shirt was "filthy and dirty" and that his fingernails were also dirty.

She said that the boy died from heat stress, which is when the body can't cool itself fast enough and goes into shock. She said it took from three to five hours for him to expire.

Olson said that studies have shown that if the outside temperature is between 87 to 96 degrees, the interior temperature of a blue car could range between 115 to 132 degrees, while the temperature of a white vehicle could range between 109 and 128 degrees.

Showing the jury autopsy photos of the boy's body, she said the boy's abdomen had begun to turn green from decomposition.

She classified the death as a homicide, in that the boy was small with disabilities and couldn't get out of the car seat himself.

Other witnesses who testified Tuesday afternoon included Lynn Affleck and Rebecca Affleck, who knew the Rimers from their church.

The Afflecks, who were witnesses for the defense, both said they didn't find anything unsanitary about the Rimers' home. They said they were in the family's home frequently as part of their mission work for the church.

He said the boys were involved in scouting and that two of the boys had become Eagle Scouts and, if not for Jason's death, two of the other boys probably would have also have received that honor by now.

Under cross examination, Lynn Affleck said he had heard about Stanley Rimer using boat oars to paddle the boys when he disciplined them. But he said he never saw the oars and it never gave him cause for concern.

Rebecca Affleck said she was Colleen's visiting teacher for the church and came into the home once a month to talk to her. Rebecca Affleck said she never saw anything unusual about how the family was being cared for.

Rebecca Affleck also disagreed that the Rimers' house was unsanitary.

"It was a normal house with children," she said.

Earlier in the day, the focus in the trial switched from Jason, the boy who died, to an older brother, Aaron, who is mentally challenged. Aaron, now 18, had testified briefly on Friday, mainly so the jury could meet him, prosecutors said.

Walter Hanna, a special education teacher from the Clark County School District, testified that he once had to pluck body lice off of Aaron and had reported the lice to Child Protective Services.

"You could see them feeding on his upper neck and cheek," Hanna said.

Hanna testified that Aaron was his student from the sixth grade through the eighth grade and that the boy has a severe learning disability and spent his school day in one classroom.

Hanna said during those three years, there were numerous instances of when he had to send Aaron home from school because of head lice. There was one time, on Jan. 27, 2005, when Hanna said he had to send Aaron home for body lice.

Hanna said while head lice is not uncommon among students, it was the only time he had ever seen a student with body lice. Hanna said the full-time nurse was not at the school that day, so he personally removed the body lice with forceps and put them in a Ziplock bag.

Hanna said he offered to give the lice to Aaron's mother when she came to pick him up, so she could show them to a physician, but she asked him to dispose of them.

Hanna said he contacted Child Protective Services after the incident. He said he also contacted CPS several other times about Aaron, including making a report that Aaron was dirty, unkempt and smelled of fecal matter.

"That was an ongoing issue," Hanna said.

Brad Coffey, a child protective services investigator for Clark County, said he first went to the home in July 2006 to investigate an anonymous call about neglect of the Rimer children.

Coffey said he was allowed to come into the foyer of the home, but Stanley Rimer would not let him take the boys in private to do interviews with each of them. Coffey said Rimer told him CPS was being manipulated by his daughter, who had run away. Coffey said Rimer's tone was "very forceful."

He said he interviewed four of the boys on that occasion, but couldn't interview the other two because they were out of the home with their mother.

Coffey said he returned to the home about three weeks later, in August 2007, and Rimer became agitated again.

On the second visit, Coffey said he asked to speak to the other boys. Rimer allowed him to see the other boys, but not interview them alone, as is the normal procedure in such cases.

Coffey said that Rimer then complained to Coffey's CPS supervisor, Peggy Roe.

During cross examination, Coffey said he didn't think that the children were in any danger. He also said if he had thought they were in danger, he could have called in a police officer to help him conduct the interviews with the boys in private.

However, Coffey said he didn't think his investigation was a good assessment of the family because he couldn't get the full cooperation of Stanley Rimer to let him interview the children separately and alone.

Sharon Savage, assistant manager of the Clark County Department of Family Services, said Stanley Rimer contacted her two to three times on the phone to complain about the CPS investigation into his family.

Savage told him that her department was set up to investigate such complaints and they had a right to do so. She said Rimer wanted specific information about each person involved in the investigation and she gave him information on how he could get that.

She said during a call Rimer made to her on March 1, 2007, he indicated he would get the media involved and "said he was going to make our lives a living hell."

Savage said Rimer used profanity on the phone, and mentioned an address to her that indicated he knew where she lived.

She said Rimer told her he was going to send the Review-Journal to her home and said "I'm going to make your life a living hell."

Savage said that while no one in the news media ever contacted her, it was the first time she had ever been called up and told someone was going to come out to a place where she lived.

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