Caregiver in toddler's bizarre smothering death sentenced to 20 years
One of the three caregivers arrested in the October smothering death of a Fort Myers 3-year-old has been shipped to state prison for 20 years after pleading to aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Donella Trainor, 46, is at the Florida Women's Reception Center in Ocala awaiting a prison assignment, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Her release date is October 2033. As part of her sentence, she may have no unsupervised contact without prior court approval, records show.
Michael Lee McMullen died Oct. 19 after being wrapped in blankets as a bizarre form of punishment. Trainor was among three caregivers arrested for aggravated manslaughter after the toddler's death in the east Lee County home where he lived after the Department of Children and Families removed him from his mother's care. A DCF review after Michael's death found there was no documentation a background check had been done on Trainor, who had been found guilty of child abuse in Michigan. A department review found the failure was an isolated case.
The trial for Michael's 22-year-old stepfather, Douglas Garrigus, is set for July 14. Michael's maternal grandmother, Gale Watkins, 57, has a pre-trial conference set later this month.