CARTHAGE MAN CHARGED IN SON'S DEATH

Police Say Baby Ingested Leftovers From Meth 'Cook'

CARTHAGE, Mo. - When his parents, Dennis and Maranda Doubet, took him to
the emergency room at McCune-Brooks Hospital in Carthage on Sept. 23,
11-month-old Zarrin Doubet reportedly was foaming at the mouth and reeking
of fuel.

The father said his son apparently had choked on something.

While doctors and nurses worked feverishly to save the boy, police were called.

The father left the hospital on foot just as officers were arriving - and
as Zarrin was dying - raising the suspicions of authorities.

Carthage detectives went to the Doubets' home at 418 Clevenger St., just a
few blocks from the hospital, to retrieve the boy's father for death
notification purposes. Police said that when they eventually obtained
consent to search the home that day for evidence of a cause of death, they
found a partially filled can of Coleman camp fuel, empty bottles of acetone
and Heet, iodine-stained filters and paper, a used syringe, boxes of
matches with their strike plates scraped clean of phosphorus, and a
single-burner stove.

They began to suspect the child had died from ingestion of leftover fuel
from a methamphetamine "cook." The Missouri Division of Family Services was
called and took custody of the Doubets' two other children, one of school
age and the other a preschooler.

But no charges were filed against either parent, pending an autopsy and
toxicology tests.

Those test results came back this week, and Dennis D. Doubet, 33, was
arrested Wednesday night and charged with second-degree murder and creation
of a controlled substance. He has posted $25,000 bond and been released.

"This clearly was a tragic event," Carthage Police Chief Dennis Veach said
at a news conference called Thursday to announce the results of the
three-month investigation.

He said authorities believe it is the first known instance in Southwest
Missouri, if not the entire state, of a child dying from ingestion of
chemicals used to make methamphetamine. He called it a case "that has
raised the bar on the meth problem" in the region.

"It's way past a wake-up call," Veach said.

"If you're parents, and you're doing drugs, and you're cooking drugs in the
house, you're not good parents."

Jasper County Coroner Ron Mosbaugh said the toxicology tests showed Zarrin
died from ingestion of Coleman fuel and other substances mixed in with the
fuel. The deadly mix, which caused hemorrhaging and massive congestion in
his lungs, was found in the boy's stomach contents and brain tissue,
Mosbaugh said.

Camp fuel is commonly used to help separate the final product when
methamphetamine is cooked.

Dean Dankelson, county prosecutor, said the father will be prosecuted under
Missouri's felony murder rule. The law permits a defendant to be prosecuted
for second-degree murder if someone dies during the defendant's commission
of another felony crime. In this case, Dankelson said, Doubet is accused of
felony manufacturing of a controlled substance that led to the death of his
son.

Second-degree murder carries possible sentences of 10 to 30 years in prison
or life in prison, the prosecutor said.

Maranda Doubet has not been charged with a crime. Dankelson and Veach
declined to discuss why one parent would be charged and not the other.

"The mother has not been charged," Veach said. "That's all I'm going to say
on that."

He said police searched the couple's home and other buildings, not only the
day of Zarrin's death, but also the next day and two days after. He said
the couple's garage and two abandoned buildings on other people's property
were searched in connection with the investigation.

"The searches of the residence and other buildings in the area confirmed
that methamphetamine activity had been occurring at the residence for some
time," Veach said.

He said the searches turned up evidence of a meth-making operation in an
upstairs bedroom of the home.

The coroner had said in September that the father told authorities he was
in the living room and his son was in the kitchen when he heard the boy
making strange noises. Mosbaugh said the father told authorities that he
believed the boy had choked on something.

Dennis and Maranda Doubet could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Police said Doubet was unemployed at the time of his son's death but
currently works at a Carthage factory.

Veach said the father had some "minor" scrapes with the law in the past,
and that officers had received some "limited information" about activities
at the couple's home several years ago. But nothing was ever confirmed, he
said.

The couple no longer reside at the Clevenger Street address. A sign on the
door Thursday indicated that they may have moved to a home on Cedar Street,
but no one answered the door at that address either.

Brian Doubet, a brother of the defendant, told the Globe that police are
trying to make his brother a scapegoat.

"If you knew him as well as I do, you'd know he would never hurt his
child," Brian Doubet said.

He declined to discuss any details of the case.