Child death probe continues
By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
City police detectives waited this week for autopsy results as they continued their investigation into the February 27 death of a 2-year-old child who was left for several hours inside his father’s truck.
The autopsy is being conducted by scientists with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. According to the AFDS website, the postmortem exam could take “from 4-6 weeks.”
Shawn Rounsavall, owner of 30 Below ice cream parlor in Atmore, was arrested after the toddler — Cody Weston Rounsavall — was officially pronounced dead at Atmore Community Hospital. The elder Rounsavall is charged with reckless murder in the tragic death of his son.
According to an employee of the Escambia County Detention Center’s booking and release division, Rounsavall remained in the facility early Tuesday, March 7, held under $500,000 bond.
Published reports are that the Atmore businessman was allowed a public defender due to financial hardship after he told District Court Judge Eric Coale he “was working for his wife and was on Medicaid.”
Records maintained by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen’s office show that the 52-year-old Rounsavall is president, director and incorporator for both 30 Below Ice Cream Inc. and ASR Enterprises Inc., as well as director and incorporator for KWhite Inc.
Atmore Police Department Sgt. Darrell McMann said in a press release issued last week that police were called by staff of the local hospital around 4:30 p.m. on February 27 in reference to “a two-year-old child that was transported to the hospital by the father, after being left unattended in a vehicle for several hours.”
APD investigators determined from interviews with the father that the child was supposed to have been dropped off at a local daycare center during the morning hours. But when he went to pick the child up that afternoon, daycare staff told him the youngster was never dropped off that morning.
Reports show that Rounsavall then discovered the child, reportedly strapped in a child restraint seat in the backseat of the vehicle, and rushed him to the hospital, much too late to save him. The child was reportedly inside the truck for about eight hours.
McMann said the charge against Rounsavall is a Class A felony. According to criminaldefenselawyer.com, a conviction for a Class A felony in Alabama could result in a prison sentence of not less than 10 years and not more than 99 years, along with a fine of up to $60,000.