WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Midlands daycare owner takes the stand in homicide case

Midlands daycare owner takes the stand in homicide case

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Midlands daycare worker charged with homicide by child abuse took the stand Thursday.

It's the first time Andrea Person has been able to tell her side of the story in the first of three pending cases against her on the same charge.

The first case is for the 1998 death of 1-year-old Zach Ulengchong.

Person spent a couple hours talking about the relationship she had with the Ulengchong family and what losing their son has done to her. 

"I loved Pete and Gina like they were my brothers and sister, like we were family," said Person.

Family until prosecutors say Andrea Person used her hand to suffocate Gina and Pete Ulengchong's one year old son back in 1998.

Person told the jury she met the Ulengchongs in the mid-90s, then started babysitting their children inside her home daycare.

Person testified that she was with the Ulengchongs to celebrate when their son Zach was born.

"Outside of my family, they're the closest people that I had as friends," said Person. "They trusted me with Zachary and he was with me when he passed, and it breaks my heart."

Person told jurors that Zach was sick and was finishing up a bout with pneumonia when his mother dropped him off at Person's daycare on Dec. 2, 1998.

Person says she fed Zach two bottles before he finally laid down to nap.

About 15 minutes later, Person says she knew something bad was wrong when she went back to the crib to check on the boy.

"I saw Zachary laying in a pool of fluid and I immediately picked him up," said Person.

That's when Person says she started CPR and called 911.

Medics rushed Zach Ulengchong to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Person and her husband Rodney met the Ulengchongs at the hospital.

"Pete gave me a hug and he held me and we cried and he said it was not my fault, you loved him like he was your own. He said, don't blame yourself, it's not your fault," said Person.

Person spent most of her time on the stand trying to convince the jury that a confession letter she wrote in 2007 wasn't true.

She testified that she sat through a 7-hour long interrogation with sheriff's investigators because she wanted to end the hurt for Gina and Pete Ulengchong.

"I was told if I just help, if I just give them something that would give closure to this family, I would be helping and I could go home," said Person. "I was desperate to go home."

Desperation set in during the interrogation after Person says she denied hurting Zach.

She says the sheriff's investigators wouldn't take no for an answer, then got aggressive toward her. 

Person says investigators started giving her different scenarios and suggested it was accidental abuse.

"I feel like you guys are trying to make me make something up, make something that makes sense. You're making me feel like I have to make something up for you," said Person.

Which is where the confession prosecutors showed the jury came from.  

Person says she gave investigators what they wanted in hopes she could get what she wanted then more than anything.

"I'm desperate, I want to be away from this. I want to go home, I want to go home," Person said of the interrogation.

Prosecutors were quick to remind the jury that the confession Person gave came after she was read her rights, and after she was offered opportunities to stop talking.

Previous Stories:

• Trial of accused daycare operator underway

• Medical examiner takes the stand in Midlands daycare homicide case

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