Twins’ Mom Indicted
In Newborns’ Deaths
By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
DECATUR – On Saturday, May 4, Kimberly Nicole Steeley wrote a poem on her Facebook page, titled, “If I knew x Two,”
“If I knew it was the last time I would hold you x2, If I knew it would be the last time I kissed you x2…If I knew love that Deeply x2, If I knew I would
Have tried to save you x2,” she wrote.
On Wednesday, May 8, Steeley, 27, Decatur, was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter in the 2018 deaths of her twin infant children, Liam and Bonde Steeley, barely a month old whey they were found dead in their bassinettes, 16 days apart.
“At first, everyone thought Bonde died of SIDS,” said District Attorney John Muehl. “Then 11 days later, Liam died of the same condition.”
According to Rob O’Brien, Otsego County 911 director, the first call came into the county’s 911 center at 6:28 a.m. on Tuesday, June 5, to a house at 185 Skinner Hill Road in the Town of Decatur, where they found the female child unresponsive.
At 4:19 a.m., Saturday, June 16, ambulances were again dispatched to the house, where they found Bonde’s brother Liam in the same condition. Both times, Steeley allegedly told operators that she found the children unresponsive and not breathing.
According to the county Real Property Tax database, the home belongs to Christopher and Arlene Steeley, her parents.
An autopsy listed the deaths of both children as asphyxiation.
Both times, Steeley allegedly told investigators she found the infants dead in their bassinet. However, following an investigation and additional statements made by Steeley, police concluded otherwise.
Though Muehl initially presented the case as murder, a grand jury chose to indict on manslaughter. “They didn’t think there was enough evidence to see it as intentional,” he said.
Bonde and Liam were preemies; the due date listed on the registry was June 21, but according to state troopers, their birth date was May 15.
Steeley was arraigned after her arrest and remanded to the Otsego County Jail on $10,000 cash bail or $100,000 bond, but posted bail on Thursday, May 9.
She then changed her Facebook header photo to a picture of the twins, wrapped in pink and blue crochet blankets.
In her profile, she identifies herself as, “A Mother of twin Angels.”
