Two Clermont County parents will spend time in prison for their infant daughter’s death and abuse of the girl’s twin sister.
Clermont County Common Pleas Judge Kevin Miles sentenced 34-year-old Andrew Kammerer on Sept. 16 to at least 19 years in prison.
Kammerer pleaded guilty in July to involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and obstructing justice. He was previously charged with a more serious count of aggravated murder.
The judge also sentenced the twin girls’ mother, 32-year-old Danielle Rheude, to at least five years in prison following her guilty plea to child endangering counts.
Prosecutors: Injuries inflicted on twin girls were ‘unmistakable result of rage’
Kammerer was the only person at home with the 4-month-old girls on Nov. 4, 2024, when he reported to 911 that one of his children, Evelyn, had fallen roughly 3 feet from a changing table and wasn’t breathing, prosecutors said in court filings.
The girl was taken to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she died after doctors discovered she suffered a traumatic brain injury “so severe it was incompatible with life,” according to prosecutors.
Kammerer made statements at the hospital, which prosecutors said were concerning to doctors and law enforcement, including “I don’t know my own strength.”
An autopsy showed Evelyn suffered “horrific injuries” in addition to the brain trauma, such as broken ribs, cuts to the liver and severe internal bleeding. Medical professionals determined the girl’s injuries could not have been caused by such a short fall and were consistent with abuse.
Kammerer was the sole caretaker of the children while their mother was at work, prosecutors said.
Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Lara Baron-Allen said that Kammerer violently shook and assaulted his daughters, leading to one child’s death and the other girl suffering fractured ribs.
“These are not the injuries of an accident,” Baron-Allen said. “They are the unmistakable result of rage, force and cruelty inflicted on a helpless baby, who can neither resist, protect herself, nor cry out loud enough to summon help.”
She said the violence was not a one-time incident, but a “pattern of abusive behavior” against both children. The prosecutor said Kammerer also lied to dispatchers when reporting his daughter’s injuries in an effort to cover up the abuse.
Kammerer had also told the girls’ mother, “I’m a monster. I am hurting them,” Baron-Allen said, adding that he was aware of his actions.
Father acted out of ‘frustration and fatigue,’ attorney says
William Rapp, the father’s attorney, said Kammerer was a first-time parent whose twins were born prematurely and suffered from medical complications.
Rapp said Kammerer was not prepared for the “overwhelming task” of caring for the children, adding that his actions were likely out of “frustration and fatigue.”
In an emotional statement in court, Kammerer said the loss of his family is something that weighs on him.
“I’ll never be able to teach them,” he said. “I’ll never be able to learn from them, to absorb their youth and to share…the information I’ve learned over the time of my life.”
However, the judge found that Kammerer had not expressed genuine remorse and said that his statements were “very self-centered.”
Miles said that Kammerer should’ve reached out to the many family members and supporters who wrote to the court if he was struggling with caring for the children.
“This is a horrific case,” Miles said.
Christina Strasel Helmer, Rheude’s attorney, said the mother was not accused of directly inflicting physical harm to the children; however, “she should’ve been their protector.”
Under a state law that says the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction can extend an inmate’s sentence based on their conduct, Kammerer could spend up to 24½ years in prison and Rheude faces up to 6½ years.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Clermont County parents sentenced for infant’s death from ‘horrific injuries’
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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