'Please don't let this be the boy': bruises, brain function and more in question at trial

An expert at the trial for the murder of 2-year-old Dante Mullinix believes there was "no doubt" his death was caused by a fatal brain injury she believes was onset by blunt force trauma.

Lori Frasier, a doctor of child abuse pediatrics with Penn State Health, was called to testify in the trial of Tyree Bowie, 41, who is accused of "brutally" abusing the toddler with strangulation, blunt force trauma and chest and spine damage,s with a bite mark on his right arm, before bringing the nearly lifeless boy to York Hospital in a 2018 incident.

Mullinix also suffered from a partially healed broken wrist, but Frasier said that could have been from a fall on his outstretched arm and is not uncommon among toddlers.

Mullinix was treated by York Hospital's emergency room staff before being flown to the Hershey Medical Center that evening. Frasier was able to do further studies on the then-comatose boy.

“There was almost no part of his body that did not have bruises on it," she testified.

Mullinix died a few days after his arrival at Hershey.

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Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Rachel Sherman have spent the past two days in front of Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder and a jury bringing medical experts and witnesses to the stand to testify in the death.

Bowie is facing charges of murder of the first and third degree and child endangerment.

Farley Holt, Bowie's attorney, has brought questions of recollection, veracity and confidence to each witness in turn, insisting Mullinix's injuries could have been caused by his mother and other possible bad actors in the child's life.

Leah Mullinix, 26, Dante's mother, had known Bowie for less than a month when she asked him to watch Dante for an afternoon while she went to the emergency room for a migraine.

Prosecutors brought footage of Dante Mullinix and Bowie making a stop in a Rutter's gas station on Susquehanna Trail about an hour and 40 minutes before he brought the child to the emergency room.

In the video, Bowie is shown with an awake and walking Dante Mullinix as he buys refreshments.

Cheri Bennage, the clerk who checked the two out, was testified she did not notice any major bruises on the child when she saw him at the gas station. She said he seemed healthy and alert.

Holt asked Bennage if she noticed a bald spot on Dante Mullinix's head that was shown in a video. She said she did not.

Frasier said Dante could not have behaved the way he did in the video with the type of brain injury and bleed they later found, suggesting he suffered the injury later.

Holt asked if the lack of oxygen from choking or strangulation could have led to the same injury, to which she replied it was possible but not as likely.

At the same time, video footage shows Leah Mullinix in the emergency room at York Hospital waiting for more than an hour and a half, looking at her phone and slumping in a chair. She eventually goes out front when Bowie drives up with the unconscious Dante.

Bowie is seen getting the boy out of the car and swiftly walking with Leah Mullinix into the main lobby. When Dante Mullinix is rushed to the back, Bowie hugs Leah before jogging back to his car and leaving.

Leah Mullinix stays with the nurses to answer questions. She has also been charged in the case for a felony count of child endangerment. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 18, 2023.

Leading up to Dante Mullinix's emergency room trip on Sept. 6, the toddler had been physically examined multiple times on the second and the sixth. This was in regard to an infection on the child's genitals, which was later confirmed by Frasier to be type two herpes.

Frasier said during the trial the infection looked like it had set in up to three weeks prior to his hospitalization. She said the majority of infections like this on children are through sexual contact, but it is not a guarantee.

The first trial witness to have seen Dante's infection and given a report of the child's physical condition on Sept. 2 was forensic nurse Michelle Frey, who took body maps of Dante Mullinix, noting his genital condition as well as minor bruises on his face and a dark one on his upper right forehead, partially covered by his shaggy blonde hairline.

She prescribed Dante Mullinix a cream to fight the infection, instructing Leah Mullinix on how to apply it and soothe the child. She never filled the prescription.

She noted Dante Mullinix moved and behaved like a normal 2-year-old with the exception he was nonverbal.

Frey was also in the hospital on the sixth when Dante Mullinix was rushed in by staff to perform life-saving efforts.

Frey noted Dante Mullinix was so battered and bruised she had to create two body maps just to include all the new information. She said his back was so bruised she could not make note of all the injuries.

Dante Mullinix was in such bad condition Frey could not recognize him.

“Please tell me this isn’t the boy that we just saw," Frey said, recalling in tears her interaction with hospital staff when she realized who the child was.

Martha Barrett, a doctor in the emergency department at York Hospital, was working the evening Bowie brought Dante Mullinix in. She noted the toddler was not breathing as he was brought in and needed immediate intubation.

She remarked on the extensive bruising of his arms, legs and chest, testifying there was no way to date all of the bruising on Dante and be able to confidently say if they were from before the span of time he was alone with Bowie.

Nurse practitioner Sarah White, who was working with York Hospital in an urgent care clinic, saw Dante Mullinix on the morning of Sept. 6 after York Child and Family services brought him and Leah in for a checkup. The two were staying in a shelter, which knew about Dante's medical issue.

White said Dante Mullinix did not have major bruising and injuries on his body that would be reported later that evening.

She prescribed the ointment for Dante Mullinix's genitals again to Leah, as she did not fill the first one, and did not notice any new injuries to the boy.

The trial continued Friday and is expected to continue to the end of next week.

Jack Panyard is a reporter at the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at jpanyard@ydr.com, 717-850-5935 or on Twitter @JackPanyard.