Case Grips Merwin’s Family ‘This Has Consumed Our Lives,’ A Sister Says After Brother Convicted

They have been terrorized by menacing visits in the night. Friends now shun them. Death threats come to their home.

They’ve been labeled baby killers.

This is life for the Merwin family - members of a close-knit clan who have become scorned in their community.

They are the parents, sisters, wife and friends of Kevin Merwin, a man convicted of injuring a 2-year-old boy who later died. All of them - even the mother of the dead boy - maintain Merwin’s innocence.

But Merwin’s conviction in one of Kootenai County’s most publicized crimes has left his family guilty by association.

Eight-hundred people signed a petition demanding that the 24-year-old computer repairman get the maximum 10-year sentence. On Friday, a judge agreed in part - sentencing Merwin to two to 10 years in prison.

Now Merwin’s sisters are afraid to discipline their children in public. When one girl fell and hurt her arm, they were terrified to take her to the doctor - afraid of pointing fingers.

“This has consumed our lives,” said Brenda Dougherty, one of Merwin’s sisters. “This is something we wake up to every morning.”

Life also has been difficult for Donald Buss and his family. Torn apart by the death of his son, Buss and his mother, Connie Hopman, struggle with anger and frustration directed at the Merwins.

“All they had to do is keep this guy in control and they didn’t,” Hopman said.

But even the man who prosecuted Merwin admits families of the accused are often disregarded casualties of crime.

“When I was doing defense work I often thought the forgotten group was the family of the defendant,” said deputy prosecutor Lansing Haynes. Whether defending their loved one or trying to accept his guilt, “They suffer just terribly.”

Until now, the Merwin family has never spoken publicly about the case, which boils down to these facts: Kevin Merwin, a father of four, was the only adult at home when Alex Buss was rushed to the hospital where he died in July 1995.

Doctors said the boy’s brain injuries indicated abuse, as though he had been shaken or struck. Merwin, who spent the day baby-sitting Alex and four others, insists he never touched the boy. He says Alex appeared to faint and fall off a bed.

“We kept our mouths shut, we kept saying ‘Justice will prevail,”’ said Shona Colee, another of Merwin’s sisters. “When that verdict came back, we couldn’t believe it.”

The Athol home where Alex spent his last days is a tidy place hidden in the woods. It’s the home of Kevin Merwin’s parents, Ken and Marie Merwin, a county appraiser and a judge’s secretary. Photographs of kids and grandkids line the walls.

When he died, Alex Buss was living there part time with his mother, Michelle, who has since married Kevin Merwin. Since that day, Ken and Marie Merwin have struggled to anchor their family.

“At first we couldn’t walk through a grocery store without being stared at,” Michelle said.

Kevin and Michelle Merwin tried to rent an apartment, but were refused by a landlady who told them, “It’s just unfortunate you have children.”

When they did find a place, they were asked to leave a month later - after newspaper articles about Merwin appeared.

A group of men ran Merwin off the road before he had been sentenced, Marie Merwin said. Rick Dougherty, Kevin’s brother-in-law, saw the aftermath. “He was bruised, his clothes were torn, his lip was swollen.”

“He was told they were going to beat him to death like he did Alex,” Marie Merwin said.

At 3 a.m. trucks and cars raced up to Ken and Marie’s home, shining lights inside.

The phone calls came nonstop. When Marie answered one, a man asked for Merwin. After a pause, he said, “Bang - he’s dead.”

On Alex’s birthday, Michelle went to her son’s grave for a visit. An unknown woman stood there.

“She looked at me and she glared at me. She shook her head and walked away,” Michelle said, tears in her eyes. “I feel like an outsider there, too.”

Michelle came under attack, even from her father, for standing by Merwin.

“Everyone thinks I’m the monster, I’m the awful horrible person,” she said. “There have been times I have resented him because he was the last one who was with Alex, but I have never blamed him for Alex’s death,” she wrote to the judge.

The Merwin family has reason to believe Merwin.

There was conflicting medical testimony - doctors couldn’t pinpoint how the boy died.

There was Alex’s strange behavior before his death. The usually energetic boy seemed lethargic and wouldn’t eat. He broke into crying fits. The night before the incident, he went to bed early while the other children played Frisbee.

Merwin’s sisters and wife have watched him with the children. They say he was a gentle father who adored Alex as if he were his own son.

Most importantly, they believe Merwin would not put his family through such torment if he were guilty.

For now, the family is readying for lengthy appeals. Merwin is on his way to prison.

His family finds comfort in each other and a new family member. Three-month-old Emily is the couple’s only child together.

“Emily is like God’s special gift to us,” Marie Merwin said.

“We are strong and we’re not going to let this destroy us.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo