After mother's confession, family awaits investigation

Five months after a Battle Creek woman confessed to killing her son 53 years ago, her other children are waiting for what's next.

The three adult children of Janice Summerfield, 77, have met with Calhoun County prosecutors, a detective from the sheriff department and the county medical examiner but still don't know if their mother might be charged.

Weeks ago Paula Gastian, 54, of Battle Creek went to Detective Steve Hinkley and said her mother had confessed to smothering her brother William Earl Summerfield III in 1961 when the child was 8 months old.

Gastian had suspected for years that her infant brother and perhaps twin sisters had been killed by her mother. But before a day last fall there had only been denials or silence from Janice Summerfield.

"That day in September changed our lives forever," Gastian said last week. "Everything we knew was a lie."

Gastian had confronted her mother about the deaths of twins Beth and Brenda, who died before either was a year old. But Gastian said her mother instead confessed she smothered her brother Billy.

Gastian reported the confession, and Hinkley opened an investigation. He later said Summerfield also confessed to him, and Janice Summerfield also told a reporter from the Battle Creek Enquirer she was responsible for the death of her son. She had denied responsibility for the deaths of the girls.

The boy's body was exhumed in October and has been at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine since as Calhoun County Medical Examiner Dr. Joyce deJong and her staff attempt to determine a cause of death.

Hinkley said recently that deJong has not submitted a report or made changes to the death certificate completed after the boy's death on May 29, 1961. The cause listed then was aspiration of regurgitated formula.

At a meeting with Gastian and her brothers, Mike Summerfield of Marshall and older brother Phil Summerfield of Huntsville, Ala. earlier this month, deJong told family members "there was no way he died of that. It was not possible," Gastian said.

But Hinkley said investigators have not received a written report from the pathologist, and Gastian and her brothers, are afraid there will be no defined cause of death.

Prosecutor David Gilbert said he must see results of the investigation, including the autopsy, before deciding if he will issue charges.

"We are still waiting for a report and the investigation to be completed," he said. "We met with the family members and the pathologist, but we are waiting for law enforcement to turn in a report."

Hinkley said only that he is conducting more interviews.

"We are talking to more family members and waiting for the medical examiner," Hinkley said, "and should have a report in the next 30 days."

The family understands that the remains of Billy Summerfield may not reveal a cause of death, especially since their mother said she smothered the infant.

"There might not be an ending," Gastian said. "You can talk and talk and talk, but if the evidence is not there..."

Mike Summerfield agreed, saying if the pathologist can't testify to a cause of death, prosecution will be difficult at best. And any defense attorney will likely raise Janice Summerfield's mental state, he said.

"They can't say anything until they see the detective's report, but it look really unlikely," Mike Summerfield said Saturday. "I don't think they will prosecute. Why take a case that would be so easy to loose."

Gastian said she is not after vengeance but rather justice for her brother, Billy, and sisters Beth and Brenda.

Their mother was in a Kalamazoo nursing home and then in a Kalamazoo hospital shortly after the investigation began. Recently she moved a Battle Creek adult foster care home.

Gastian said she would like the investigation expanded to include 3-month-old Beth who died May 1, 1969, and her sister, Brenda, who was 11 months old when she died Jan. 1, 1970.

She and her brothers said the bodies of the twin girls should be exhumed and autopsies conducted, but investigators said that decision has not been made.

Mike Summerfield also wants the deaths of his sisters investigated but said its difficult because autopsies were not conducted on their bodies at the time of death.

Like his sister, Mike Summerfield is frustrated because nothing might happen.

"It is hard to look for accountability and not really find it," he said. "My expectations were low, but the hypocrisy to be raised to be accountable for your actions and yet the people that tried to teach you are not accountable and not being held accountable.

"We are all frustrated," he said.

His mother's confession is some consolation for Mike Summerfield, but not enough if the case is not pursued.

"Maybe it will be someday," he said. "But we want the truth to come out."

In the meantime the surviving siblings said they can only wait for more information and a decision about the case.

"She said God forgave her, but my God would make me go to the nearest police station and confess," Gastian said. "My older brother said it best. We don't want her to have any freedoms. We didn't have any freedoms. The other one's didn't have any freedoms and she shouldn't either."

Call Trace Christenson at 966-0685. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson.