FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — A former babysitter will accept a plea deal Wednesday afternoon in connection with the 2019 death of a man who allegedly became disabled as an infant after violent shaking 40 years ago.
Terry McKirchy, 62, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Benjamin Dowling, who died at age 35 after a life of severe disabilities caused by a brain hemorrhage he suffered in 1984 when he was 5 months old while living in McKirchy’s suburban Fort Lauderdale home. Investigators believed she caused the hemorrhage by shaking him.
McKirchy, who now lives in Sugar Land, Texas, was charged three years ago by a Broward County grand jury after a 2019 autopsy concluded that Dowling died from his decades-old injuries. He never crawled, walked, talked or fed himself, his family said.
But McKirchy, who faced a possible life sentence, has always maintained she never hurt Dowling.
Court records do not indicate what charges McKirchy will plead to or whether it will be a guilty or no contest plea. Prosecutors and the public defender’s office will not discuss the case before the hearing. McKirchy voluntarily entered the Broward County Jail on May 29 after being released on $100,000 bail shortly after her arraignment.
This isn’t the first time McKirchy has taken a plea deal over Dowling’s injuries; she received an exceptionally light sentence after pleading no contest to attempted murder in 1985. Six months pregnant with her third child at the time, she was facing 12 to 17 years in prison, and was sentenced to weekends in jail until she gave birth. She was then released and given three years’ probation.
Even then, she maintained her innocence, telling reporters at the time that her “conscience is clear.” She said at the time that she had accepted the deal because she wanted to put the case behind her and be with her children.
At the time, prosecutors called the sentence “therapeutic” but offered no explanation. Ryal Gaudiosi, McKirchy’s public defender at the time, called the sentence “fair under the circumstances.” He died in 2009.
Rae and Joe Dowling had been married for four years when Benjamin was born on January 13, 1984. Both the Dowlings worked, so they hired McKirchy, then 22, to babysit him at her home.
Rae Dowling told investigators that when she picked up Benjamin from McKirchy on July 3, 1984, his body was limp and his fists were clenched. She rushed him to the hospital, where doctors concluded he had suffered a brain hemorrhage from violent shaking. McKirchy was arrested within days.
The Dowlings told reporters in 1985 that they were stunned when prosecutors told them minutes before the trial of the settlement McKirchy would receive.
The Dowlings said in a 2021 statement that Benjamin had undergone multiple surgeries throughout his life, including metal rods along his spine. He was fed through a feeding tube and attended rehabilitation and special schools. The Dowlings had two more children and took Benjamin with them to their games and performances. The family moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast in the late 1990s. He died at their home on Sept. 16, 2019.
“Benjamin would never know how much he was loved and could never tell others of his love for them,” they said. “Benjamin did smile when he was with his family, although he could never put anything into words, we believe he knew who we were and that we worked hard to help him.”