NATHAN GMUER - 4 Months (2008) - Turtle Creek (E of Pittsburgh) PA

At 2 1/2, Ethan Gmuer is still too young to ask many questions about
his twin brother, Nathan, the bald baby who appears in pictures
throughout his grandfather's home in Turtle Creek.

But questions still surround Nathan's death more than two years
later, even as the twins' father, Jason Gmuer, was ordered Friday to
stand trial on homicide, aggravated assault and child endangerment
charges.

Police and medical experts said Mr. Gmuer, 32, of Castle Shannon,
violently shook Nathan the night of Dec. 18, 2008, when he was watching
the boys while their mother was at work. Doctors who treated 4-month-old
Nathan at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC told District Judge
Eugene Ricciardi during Friday's preliminary hearing that they found
cerebral hemorrhaging and other injuries consistent with trauma.

But Mr. Gmuer told Allegheny County homicide detectives, who charged
him in June, that he was bathing Nathan in a chair in the tub when the
child pushed up with his feet, fell backward and bumped his head on the
front of the seat, according to a criminal complaint. He said he was
able to quickly comfort Nathan, who fell asleep in his crib shortly
later.

Mr. Gmuer told detectives he was later awakened by Nathan, who was
"fussy" and coughing up formula. When he turned on the bedroom light, he
could see that Nathan "was not himself" and wasn't moving. He told
police the boy was unresponsive, and he called 911.

Nathan was taken off life support on Dec. 22, but questions about his
death remain. Allegheny County medical examiner Karl Williams, who
performed the autopsy, said the boy's cause of death remains
undetermined. But he sought an independent review from Lucy Rorke-Adams,
a forensic neuropathologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,
who testified on Friday that she found signs of inflicted trauma, and
ruled the death a homicide in November 2009.

Mr. Gmuer's attorney, Bill Difenderfer, told the judge that the case
ultimately would be "a battle of the experts. Ninety-nine to 100 percent
rises and falls on expert testimony."

Ethan Gmuer and his mother, Patricia McMahon, now live with her
father, Thomas McMahon, where photos of the twins abound and birthday
parties for Ethan still are meant for his brother, too.

"They were sweet little guys," Mr. McMahon said after the hearing. "We're all happy, except we miss the little guy."
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11057/1128224-55.stm#ixzz1F4ktQJXX