KENT COUNTY, MI - After finding his daughter dead in her crib, Seth Welch called his lawyer then waited 90 minutes before calling 911.

Then, when a dispatcher asked how he was holding up, he said: "You know, just another day. It is what it is."

Welch and his wife, Tatiana Fusari, are charged with felony murder in their daughter's starvation death at their Solon Township home.

The couple, who have two other children, ages 2 and 4, are also charged with first-degree child abuse.

The 10-month-old victim, Mary Welch, weighed only eight pounds when found dead Aug. 2.

Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Kimberly Richardson played a recording of the father's 911 call at the couple's probable-causing hearing Wednesday, Oct. 10, before 63rd District Judge Sara Smolenski.

Dr. David Start, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, said the girl died of "malnutrition associated with dehydration due to neglect of adult caregivers."

Attorney Lesley Kranenberg, representing the husband, questioned testing performed as part of the autopsy and suggested that the child suffered a metabolic disorder that kept her from absorbing nutrients.

Start said he found no metabolic diseases or parasites.

Police said that the parents did not trust medical-care providers. The victim and her 2-year-old brother had not gone to a doctor's office. The father told an investigator that the girl who died was "skinny but healthy," records said.

The couple sat at the defense table separated by attorneys. Attorney Damian Nunzio sat on the end with the girl's mother.

The father was visibly upset in court listening to his 911 call. He showed no sense of urgency while on the phone.

"I guess I don't know if this is the right place to report this to. ... One of my children is dead."

When the dispatcher asked why he thought the child was dead, Welch said he had no idea. He just woke up and found her dead. He said his wife tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation but it was too late.

He said they put the girl to bed at 3 p.m. then found her dead around 10 a.m. the next day. When asked why she died, he said: "Because she's not breathing and there's no heartbeat."

His wife then told the dispatcher that her daughter was cold and not breathing.

Seth Welch told the dispatcher that he had called his attorney 90 minutes before calling 911 to find out what to do. He also called his parents, who were driving in from Grand Haven.

"I had no idea what to do," he told the dispatcher.

Dawn TenBrink, a Kent County sheriff's crime-scene investigator, said she saw food in the house but limited baby food.

The house was dirty, with mice feces in drawers and throughout the house. There were also many flies. The mattress of the victim's bed was filthy and had what appeared to be mold on it, she said.

Sheriff's Detective Jason Russo said the father told investigators that he thought Mary was skinny like her older sister was at that age.

The mother said that she breastfed Mary who had also started eating some solid foods. She fed her daughter before going to her second-shift job at McDonald's but neither parent fed the girl after that. The mother may have thought that her husband fed her while she was at work.

The parents did not go into the girl's room until the next day.

Russo said that the father did not regret not providing his daughter with medical care. The parents did not trust doctors because they were reported to Child Protective Services after they disagreed with a doctor's recommendation for care for their older daughter.

He said the father believed his daughter to be skinny, not sickly. Both parents thought she was going through a growth spurt.

Russo said the father has not shown any emotion.

"To my recollection, during the interviews I conducted ... he has never expressed or shown any emotion regarding Mary's care or ultimate demise."

Smolenski ordered the parents bound over for trial on both life offenses. While the defense argued that the parents thought the 10-month-old was OK, and didn't intentionally or knowingly cause harm, the judge said the damage was obvious.

The child weighed only eight pounds, and her muscles were so weak she couldn't crawl or lift her head. She was chronically malnourished over the course of weeks or months.

"It is as horrific as it gets," she said. "The skeletal-like posture of the child, in my opinion, speaks volumes, for how long the baby was not cared for properly. The 10-month-old baby weighed eight pounds at death."

She said she was also stunned by Welch's call to 911. She said she has witnessed many different reactions to tragedy and shock but she was struck by his "callousness" to his daughter's death. In particular, she said, quoting Welch's remarks to a dispatcher, was his statement that "she's as dead as a door knob."