CATHY LYNN HENDERSON | Babysitter convicted in the abduction/murder of 3mo Brandon Baugh | Brandon’s body had been stuffed in a wine cooler box and concealed in Henderson’s trunk; kidnapped 2yo daughter, changed her identity, attempted to flee | Sentenced

Cathy Henderson. ALS. Commercial #10 (4.125” x 9.5”) envelope. Pmk: February 9, 2007. SEALED. Content unknown. Pristine.

• Classification: Murderer

• Characteristics: Babysitter

• Number of victims: 1

• Date of murder: January 21, 1994

• Date of arrest: February 1, 1994

• Date of birth: December 27, 1956

• Date of Death: August 2, 2015 (age 58)

• Victim profile: Brandon Duane Baugh, 3-month-old

• Method of murder: Beating

• Location: Austin, Travis County, Texas, USA

• Status: Sentenced to death on May 25, 1995

• UPDATE: Died of natural causes in prison

A petite 37 year old blond with no prior criminal history, Cathy Lynn Henderson had been babysitting the Baugh children for about 3 months before the January 21, 1994 abduction and murder. Originally from Missouri, Henderson had been living in northeast Travis County and was the babysitter for Megan and Brandon Baugh in 1993/94. Upon the disappearance of Henderson and baby Brandon, a nationwide search ensued. Henderson was found in Missouri.

Henderson maintains that Brandon's injuries were sustained in an accidental fall and that in a panic she buried his body on her way out of town. She had also claimed at different points that she had stolen the baby to sell for money. Maps she drew to show where she had buried Brandon back in Texas were a point of contention prior to her conviction and in later appeals (denied).

About Brandon Baugh: The body of 3-month old Brandon Baugh was found in a box buried in a shallow grave outside Temple, Texas on Feb. 8, 1994. He had died days earlier on January 21. An autopsy revealed he died from head injuries that, according to the medical examiner, were not consistent with a fall from the babysitter's arms as Cathy Henderson had claimed. At the time of his death Brandon also had a 2½ year old sister, Megan.ⁱ

Cathy Lynn Henderson, babysitter convicted of murder, dies in hospital

Cathy Lynn Henderson, who dominated national headlines in 1994 for the killing of 3-month-old Brandon Baugh, died Sunday after a month of hospitalization, her lawyer said Monday. She was 58.

Once just two days away from execution, the former babysitter spent nearly two decades in prison before winning a new trial in 2012. On June 12, just months before her case was to go to trial a second time, Henderson hobbled into the courtroom on crutches with the help of her lawyers and pleaded guilty to murder. She was sentenced then to 25 years in prison, but with credit for time served, she could have been released in four years.

Henderson was taken to hospital on June 24 after she had trouble with her breathing. She was diagnosed with pneumonia and had a stroke during her stay.

“Cathy Lynn Henderson passed away last night, at peace and without pain,” her lawyer, Jon Evans, told the American-Statesman. “In the last few weeks of her life she was relieved of a 21-year burden. Her version of the events of the tragedy of Brandon Baugh finally was given the proper respect and credence it deserved. She passed with that satisfaction.”

A sharply divided Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Henderson’s capital murder conviction and sentence in December 2012. The court upheld a recommendation by District Judge Jon Wisser that she have a new trial based on new scientific discoveries into the nature of head injuries.

Henderson claimed that Baugh died after slipping from her arms and falling about 4 feet to the concrete floor in her home in the Pflugerville area. She said she panicked, burying the boy’s body in a Bell County field before fleeing to Missouri, where she was found and arrested 11 days later.

Some supporters of the Baugh family said they were relieved to see Henderson plead guilty after years of lies and denials. But Brandon’s parents, grandmother and sister said they had been surprised and disappointed to learn she would not face a jury once more.

“I have no doubts that your plea today is not an act of contrition but another act of selfishness in order to gain your freedom,” Brandon’s father, Eryn Baugh, told Henderson on the witness stand on the day she took her plea.ⁱⁱ

• VIDEO: Cathy Henderson pleads guilty to murder in baby’s 1994 death | https://youtu.be/2Jfh9gAwkMw

• VIDEO: Court hearing for Cathy Henderson | https://youtu.be/oQFzx-y34XA

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