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Stepmother sentenced to 20 years in death of Baby Andrew

By Howard B. Owens

UPDATED 6:39 p.m.

ELMIRA -- If Melissa Engelhardt spends the full 20 years in state prison that Chemung County Judge Peter C. Buckley sentenced her to today, her own two children will be young adults when she's released.

Kristen Cianfrini, the mother of Andrew Cianfrini, the 21-month-old killed by Engelhardt on Nov. 10, 2009, told Buckley -- the woman who once pretended to be her friend, but then tried to pin Andrew's death on her -- should spend the rest of her life in prison.

In a statement to Buckley, Kristen called Engelhardt evil and heartless and said that Engelhardt planned the death of Andrew in order to end child support payments being taken from her husband's paycheck.

“Please don’t feel sorry for Melissa," Kristen said. "She has no sorrow, no heart, no nothing. She knew exactly what she was doing when she killed my baby boy. Melissa is a cold, heartless, selfish murderer.”

In October, in a non-jury trial, Buckley found Engelhardt guilty of manslaughter, but did not convict her of murder, saying that he didn't find enough evidence to indicate she intended to kill Andrew, only make him sick.

The Cianfrini family has expressed concern that Buckley, who has a reputation of being a liberal judge, would give Engelhardt far less than the maximum of 25 years prison time for the manslaughter conviction. The minimum sentence was five years.

After leading off with a lengthy mental history of Engelhardt -- 14 different foster homes, about a dozen different mental heath prescriptions over the years, several terms of hospitalized mental health care, a childhood of physical and sexual abuse, and years of untreated substance abuse -- it appeared Buckley was heading toward a lenient sentence.

"Your history shows that when you stop taking your medication, your behavior and decision making suffers, leading to a regression and poor judgment," Buckley said. "The crime of giving Andrew Cianfrini methanol in the form of windshield wiper fluid in his sippy cup was committed when you were not taking any medication and exercising a poor decision process causing the death of an innocent child."

When he told Engelhardt she would do 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation, the 24-year-old killer looked toward the ceiling (picture above) and supporters of the Cianfrini family -- more than a dozen people -- applauded.

After the courtroom cleared, Engelhardt could be heard in a back office of the court bawling and wailing.

During their statements, Chief Assistant District Attorney John R. Thweatt and defense attorney Nancy Eraca-Cornish re-argued their cases.

Thweatt tried to drive home the point that Engelhardt had to know that her actions would lead to Andrew's death.

"She knew enough to take the sippy cup and dump out the methanol and replace it with water," Thweatt said. "She knew enough afterward to try and shift the blame to Andrew’s mother. She knew enough to get her husband to try and reinstall the operating system on her computer in order to hide what was on it. All of that bespeaks some level of sophistication and intelligence and forethought and planning that can’t be explained adequately by saying she only had a GED or she wasn’t on her medication."

It was important, Thweatt said, for Judge Buckley to send a message to the community that she can't get away with her actions.

“The message should be that here in Chemung County that you’re going to forfeit the balance of the rest of your life for the death that you have caused," Thweatt said. "We are very concerned that this message is getting lost in this case.”

Eraca-Cornish countered that the prosecution had every chance to make a case for a more serious charge and didn't. And as far as sending a message, she called out the DA's office for inconsistency, she said, in pleading out another case of a mother suffocating an infant and getting only six months in jail.

And as she did at trial, Eraca-Cornish pointed to Engelhardt's lack of education and low IQ -- saying it is only a 91.

“She is not now nor has she ever been high functioning, Eraca-Cornish said, adding later that evidence showed she researched online the effects of methanol on people. ”We don’t even know for how long she viewed those screens or whether she even understood what she saw on those computer screens.”

As for the idea that Engelhardt isn't remorseful, Eraca-Cornish, said she is remorseful. She didn't cry in court during the trial, she said, because that would be highly inappropriate. She expressed remorse to the judge in a letter, the attorney said.

“She has suffered," Eraca-Cornish said. "Has she suffered as much as the Cianfrini family? Absolutely not. But she has suffered.”

When offered a chance to speak, Engelhardt told Buckley that she will never forgive herself.

“I was not fully medicated and stable enough to see my errors," she said.

When Jean Cianfrini, Andrew's grandmother, spoke to Buckley, she recalled in detail the reaction of the family to news of Andrew's death. As she spoke, supporters in the gallery began to sob.

She spoke at length about how Kristen's 7-year-old son has been devestated by his baby brother's death.

" 'Sometimes he irritated me, but I miss him,' " Jean recalled the boy saying once.

She said a day doesn't go by, more than a year later, that the boy doesn't talk about Andrew.

"He questions if there are children in heaven and if God plays with them, and if Andrew is not in heaven, will God send him back?” Jean said.

Outside court, Kristen had nothing good to say about Melissa Engelhardt, but indicated she was satisfied with the sentence.

"It's not 25 years. It's not life," said Kristen. "At least she will be in long enough that her children won't know her and hopefully when they get older they won't want anything to do with her."

Asked what she would say to Engelhardt, if she could, "I hope you rot and burn in hell," Kristen said. "I know my boy is haunting you every day of your life."

George Engelhardt, Andrew's father and Melissa's now estranged husband, also made a brief statement to the media.

"I don't think 20 years is enough," he said. "I'm just glad she will never see her children, my children, again. Her name is Melissa Miller. It's not Engelhardt, so, that's going to switch here quickly."

Photos: Top, Melissa Engelhardt reacts to the verdict. First inset, Melissa Engelhardt entering the court room. Second inset, Judge Peter Buckley. Third, George Engelhardt (father of Andrew). Bottom, John (grandfather) and Kristen (mother of Andrew) Cianfrini.

Amanda Welsh

Lisa, grow heart! Im so glad u are an expert at the loss of a young child! You have no idea what you would feel, so try to have some compassion.

As for the Step-mom, her attorney has already filed an appeal!

Dec 6, 2010, 5:15pm Permalink
Scott Birkby

Here's an idea. Give the filthy hag a sentence of only thirty days, to be served in solitary confinement. And only provide antifreeze for her to drink. Served in a sippy cup, to bring back old memories.

Dec 6, 2010, 5:17pm Permalink
Chris Charvella

I've avoided comment about this because I don't know much about the case, but I'll say this:

Anyone who intentionally harms a child, whether it's to make them sick or more than that, makes me physically ill.

Dec 6, 2010, 11:21pm Permalink
AnnMarie DiLaura

What a shame Melissa's co-worker didn't come forward and get in contact with the mother or father of baby Andrew and tell them what her intentions were..
What a shame George didn't see any signs Melissa was whackier than normal during the time of the poisoning...
What a shame some parents subject there children to someone like her...

Kristen I hope you and your family find the strength to get through this...I can't even imagine what this has been like for you..Andrew will be with you every step of the way..God Bless

Dec 7, 2010, 1:37am Permalink
Dave Meyer

Lisa, that's easy for you to say. You haven't endured the loss of a child or a grandchild or a brother. Given the joy that my grandchildren bring to our family, I cannot imagine what the Cianfrini family has endured.

The bottom line is that little boy should still be alive if it were not for the actions of this heartless bitch.

I still cannot understand why she was not charged with first degree murder, given the degree of pre-planning that took place.
20 years seems so little given the harm and heartache she caused. She gets to continue her miserable existence at the taxpayers' expense while Andrew's family will mourn him forever.
My sincere sympathy to the Cianfrini family.

Dec 7, 2010, 5:27am Permalink
Lisa Falkowski

Amanda & Dave,
I have never once not sympathized for Andrew's family. Without knowing the "insides" of the situation, you are judging me and my opinion. Like you, I am entitled to having an opinion.
In your ignorance, you also know nothing of my losses, or you would have not made such a comment. I have suffered loss ... close loss ... it's not easy for anyone, under any circumstance. We all grieve differently. However, I do know that healing will not begin without some sort of acceptance. Andrew's family needs to begin to accept what's happened - right or wrong - so that they can begin to heal.
I do feel terribly sorry for the Cianfrini family, but hate is a terrible thing and only feeds the fire. They will not be able to move on, unless they can let go.
Kristen has indicated that she's satisfied with the sentence handed out. She's only fooling herself. She's not satisfied and may never be, but again, without acceptance this hatred will eat her up. Only she can help herself.
Losing a child, or anyone close to you, is an awful experience. It shapes your life forever. I'm sorry for all involved.

Dec 7, 2010, 8:07am Permalink
Doug Yeomans

Bottom line: Melissa Engelhardt did intentionally with forethought and knowing full well what would happen as a result of, fed methanol to a 21 month old, defenseless child.

There's no way she didn't know it would kill the child. She searched online for ways to kill the child that might go undetected. She rinsed out the cup after allowing the child to ingest the wiper fluid. A simple search on Google reveals how deadly wood alcohol poisoning is. Again, it was absurd for her to make a claim that she was only trying to make him sick.

I for one believe that this should have been a 1st degree murder case and she should've gotten far more than 20 years. She planned and executed a murder. She's a predator of the most deviant kind (in my opinion).

I'm not generally in favor of the death penalty because we have all heard in the news over the past decade or so of people wrongly convicted and later exonerated by DNA evidence. In this case, however, it is known with 100% proof of what happened. If anyone deserves the death penalty, It's Melissa Engelhardt.

Cry me a river about her childhood and mental health situation. She was still able to plan out a murder and tried to cover it up. That reflects her ability to know the difference between right and wrong. Plenty of people grow up in less than favorable settings and go on to do great things with their life. They learn from their experiences and use them as a source of wisdom instead of as a source of excuses.

In this case I can't help but echo the wishes of Sharilyn Fotiathis and Scott Birkby.

Dec 8, 2010, 7:32am Permalink
Charlene Schultz

20 years bullsh*t let's do to her what she did to that poor baby people like that don't deserve to even live in prison just more trash for the tax payers this is why I hate judge and jury let Andrews mom give her the punishment!!!!

Sep 27, 2013, 11:23pm Permalink
John Roach

Should have been Murder 2nd and given 25+ years. But at least she'll be gone for a long time. If she follows the prison rules and takes the required programs, she'll get out before the 20 years on Conditional Release (Good Time).

Sep 28, 2013, 6:37am Permalink
Kyle Couchman

While I understand and support what Lisa was trying to say, that at some point you need face what happened and get past the death of any person close to you. I must say I have to agree with Doug, Charlene and Sharilyn have stated. It is really stretching the definition of the law saying this was not intentional. I mean I see that her intent was to remove the child support from Mr. Englehardt so I guess she is capable and sophisticated enough of planning and executing a plan to make the child sick and implicating the mother, but not of killing?

I also disagree that this was a non-jury trial. I believe that jury trials not only should be in place for the accused, but for the victims as well. I wonder how many people think that a jury would have convicted her of murder and sentenced accordingly. If the Cianfrini's and Englehardt's hadn't been vocal in the media about how liberal this judge is with sentencing I wonder what he might have given her for a sentence.

I'm sorry Lisa that you got jumped on for your well intentioned advice on getting past the incident and moving on with their lives. But as I'm sure you are capable of understanding, everyone has to deal with tradgedies like this at their own pace. We all know that we have to move on but advising so when things are still so unsettled and emotional is hard.

Sep 28, 2013, 7:02am Permalink

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