Jury finds woman guilty in child’s death

Van Wert independent staff

LIMA — A jury on Friday found Convoy resident Vicky Shellabarger guilty of three of four counts related to the death of her 22-month-old daughter, Madilynn.

Although the jury deadlocked on whether Shellabarger, 38, was guilty of murder, it returned guilty verdicts on one count of involuntary manslaughter, a felony of the first degree, as well as second- and third-degree counts of child endangering.

The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison on the charges. Sentencing will be held on May 24 in Allen County Common Pleas Court.

Shellabarger was indicted in June 2018 in the death of her young daughter, which occurred three months earlier on April 29 of that year. First-responders discovered that the young girl was not breathing and was unresponsive when Shellabarger called them to the Delphos apartment of her then-boyfriend shortly after midnight on the 29th.

Madilynn died later that same day at St. Rita’s Medical Center in Lima of external and internal injuries from what investigators called “blunt force trauma” — being severely beaten.

The trial had been delayed from its original date of March 24, 2020, while several requests were filed by Shellabarger’s attorney Stephen Chamberlain to dismiss the case because of alleged legal improprieties. All were denied by presiding Judge Jeffrey Reed.