Friday, March 26, 1999
Lost-baby case points to parents
Pair charged in mall mystery
BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FAIRFIELD — The parents of a 5-month old boy face charges of child endangering and making a false report to police after allegedly leaving the infant alone in a stroller in the Forest Fair Mall parking garage shortly after midnight Sunday.
Fairfield police Sgt. Ken Colburn said investigators are trying to piece together details and the exact time sequence in the story, but said they have enough evidence and witnesses to file the charges.
A passerby, Bob Ott, of Woodmoss Lane in Fairfield, found the stroller with Donald Austin Kramer inside, unharmed, on the second level of the parking garage.
Mr. Ott wheeled the stroller to mall security. The infant's parents, Don and Sheila Kramer of Booth Avenue in Hamilton, were found and reunited with their son.
When first questioned, the Kramers told police they were in the BW-3 Grill & Pub in the mall with the baby and their daughter, Brittany, 4. They told investigators Mr. Kramer went to the restroom and Ms. Kramer left the table to get something to drink — leaving the baby unsupervised. When she returned, Mrs. Kramer said the infant and stroller, which she thought also contained her purse and rent money, were gone.
Witness accounts
Mrs. Kramer reported her child missing to a janitor, who notified mall security and off-duty Fairfield police officers on special duty at the mall. The baby was in custody of police and mall security before the janitor called to tell them Mrs. Kramer was looking for her child.
Mr. Ott could not be reached for comment.
Fairfield Police Officer Mary Wehmeier said the Kramers “did not seem that upset after their baby was abducted. ... They seemed more con cerned that her purse was taken with the stroller and their rent money was in it.”
Witnesses who saw a TV report about the incident came forward to give police information that contradicted the Kramers' story.
Pieces of puzzle
Based on that information, police now think the Kramers left the baby in the garage, but do not know why.
Sgt. Colburn said officers do know from witnesses that the family was in the restaurant and Mr. Kramer was drinking. They also know the Kramers later returned to the mall and the restaurant in search of the missing child.
The Kramers went to Forest Park at 7:30 p.m. Monday and filed a kidnapping report with police there. About 70 percent of the mall is in Forest Park; the rest of the mall and the parking garage is in Fairfield, resulting in the charges being filed in separate jurisdictions.
Forest Park police Detective Laurie Bellow said the Kramers told police there Monday they had left the stroller outside restrooms near the restaurant; cracked a restroom door to be able to see the stroller; and that it was taken when they were not looking.
The restrooms are monitored by video camera, and a review of the tapes does not support the Kramers' story, Detective Bellow said.
She charged the Kramers with making the false police report, and Fairfield followed with a child-endangering charge Wednesday.
Sgt. Colburn said the infant remains with his parents, but police have notified Butler County Children's Services. Officials of that agency said policy prohibits them from revealing any information about the case.
Both charges are first-degree misdemeanors. Each carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, police said.
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