Autopsy reveals cause of 3 year old's death

SANDY, Ore. - On Cottontail Lane, the story in one home may be anything but a fairy tale.

Results of an autopsy, released Monday morning, tell the tale of physical and nutritional child abuse that led to the death of a 3 year old there Saturday. A couple at the Cottontail Lane home was arrested Sunday and charged with murder.

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. On Monday morning the Clackamas County Sheriff public information officer, Jim Strovink, identified the victim as Alexis Marie Pounder, who turned 3 on Sept. 1.

The arrests come after officers responded to a home in the 22000 block of Southeast Cottontail Lane and discovered the 3-year-old girl dead inside. According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, the child was living at the home with Cockrell, the biological father. Smith is Cockrell's fiancée. 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.

The autopsy was performed on the young victim at the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office in Clackamas. State Medical Examiner Larry Lewman reports that the cause of death has been determined to be “physical and nutritional child abuse.”

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