Medical examiner describes to jury how 2-year-old was beaten to death

Two-year-old Adalynn Hoyt had 64 bruises on her body – from her head to her feet – when she died in September 2016, and it appeared that all were inflicted just before she died, Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. John Howard said Thursday.

His testimony came Thursday in the trial of Jason J. Obermiller, who is accused of beating Adalynn to death. Obermiller had previously been in a relationship with Adalynn’s mother, Lovina Rainey, and witnesses said Adalynn was left in his care while Rainey went out partying with another man.

The bruises were all of different sizes and shapes and some could have been left by the knuckles of a closed fist, Howard said. The jury was shown photos of Adalynn’s bruises and graphic autopsy photos of her internal organs that generated gasps from inside the courtroom.

There were 10 bruises on her abdomen alone. Some parts of her internal organs were “torn apart” and there were tears to her bowel and bruising on her lungs and diaphragm. Howard said he found about a third of her blood in her abdomen.

“Normally there would be no blood whatsoever,” he said.

The damage to her lungs and diaphragm meant she would not have been able to breathe normally.

“She could maybe make some noise, but she would not be able to speak or call out,” he said.

Howard said the blows to her abdomen would have to be “high-energy impacts.” The internal damage he saw was similar to something he would see in a high-speed car accident or in someone who was run over by a car, Howard said.

He estimated that she would have lived for several minutes after she was assaulted but was likely unconscious for some of that time. “It would not be an instantaneous death,” he said.

He said he was unable to estimate how many blows Adalynn sustained, but said there were at least three blows to her abdomen that caused her death.

Adalynn had pizza in her mouth and must have taken the bite shortly before she died, Howard said. She had some food in her stomach but it didn’t match the food in her mouth, he said.

Defense attorneys have been arguing that the timeline given by Rainey and other witnesses are wrong. Witnesses told investigators that they last saw Obermiller and Adalynn entering his room with pizza in hand around 11 p.m. on Sept. 11 after Rainey had left.

Defense attorney Kevin Griffin continued that argument Thursday, asking Howard how long it would take Adalynn to digest pizza, since no pizza was found in her stomach. He said it would take between one and six hours, depending on a variety of factors. Under questioning Howard said the assault could have taken place as late as 6 a.m. on Sept. 12, which is after Obermiller left the home. Adalynn’s body was cold and stiff when she was found a little after 1 p.m. that day.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Jennifer Zappone asked Howard if he would expect to find pizza in Adalynn’s stomach if the bite of pizza in her mouth was her first bite. He said no.