Skip to main content

Andrew Cianfrini

Stepmother sentenced to 20 years in death of Baby Andrew

By Howard B. Owens

UPDATED 6:39 p.m.

ELMIRA -- If Melissa Engelhardt spends the full 20 years in state prison that Chemung County Judge Peter C. Buckley sentenced her to today, her own two children will be young adults when she's released.

Kristen Cianfrini, the mother of Andrew Cianfrini, the 21-month-old killed by Engelhardt on Nov. 10, 2009, told Buckley -- the woman who once pretended to be her friend, but then tried to pin Andrew's death on her -- should spend the rest of her life in prison.

In a statement to Buckley, Kristen called Engelhardt evil and heartless and said that Engelhardt planned the death of Andrew in order to end child support payments being taken from her husband's paycheck.

“Please don’t feel sorry for Melissa," Kristen said. "She has no sorrow, no heart, no nothing. She knew exactly what she was doing when she killed my baby boy. Melissa is a cold, heartless, selfish murderer.”

In October, in a non-jury trial, Buckley found Engelhardt guilty of manslaughter, but did not convict her of murder, saying that he didn't find enough evidence to indicate she intended to kill Andrew, only make him sick.

The Cianfrini family has expressed concern that Buckley, who has a reputation of being a liberal judge, would give Engelhardt far less than the maximum of 25 years prison time for the manslaughter conviction. The minimum sentence was five years.

After leading off with a lengthy mental history of Engelhardt -- 14 different foster homes, about a dozen different mental heath prescriptions over the years, several terms of hospitalized mental health care, a childhood of physical and sexual abuse, and years of untreated substance abuse -- it appeared Buckley was heading toward a lenient sentence.

"Your history shows that when you stop taking your medication, your behavior and decision making suffers, leading to a regression and poor judgment," Buckley said. "The crime of giving Andrew Cianfrini methanol in the form of windshield wiper fluid in his sippy cup was committed when you were not taking any medication and exercising a poor decision process causing the death of an innocent child."

When he told Engelhardt she would do 20 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised probation, the 24-year-old killer looked toward the ceiling (picture above) and supporters of the Cianfrini family -- more than a dozen people -- applauded.

After the courtroom cleared, Engelhardt could be heard in a back office of the court bawling and wailing.

During their statements, Chief Assistant District Attorney John R. Thweatt and defense attorney Nancy Eraca-Cornish re-argued their cases.

Thweatt tried to drive home the point that Engelhardt had to know that her actions would lead to Andrew's death.

"She knew enough to take the sippy cup and dump out the methanol and replace it with water," Thweatt said. "She knew enough afterward to try and shift the blame to Andrew’s mother. She knew enough to get her husband to try and reinstall the operating system on her computer in order to hide what was on it. All of that bespeaks some level of sophistication and intelligence and forethought and planning that can’t be explained adequately by saying she only had a GED or she wasn’t on her medication."

It was important, Thweatt said, for Judge Buckley to send a message to the community that she can't get away with her actions.

“The message should be that here in Chemung County that you’re going to forfeit the balance of the rest of your life for the death that you have caused," Thweatt said. "We are very concerned that this message is getting lost in this case.”

Eraca-Cornish countered that the prosecution had every chance to make a case for a more serious charge and didn't. And as far as sending a message, she called out the DA's office for inconsistency, she said, in pleading out another case of a mother suffocating an infant and getting only six months in jail.

And as she did at trial, Eraca-Cornish pointed to Engelhardt's lack of education and low IQ -- saying it is only a 91.

“She is not now nor has she ever been high functioning, Eraca-Cornish said, adding later that evidence showed she researched online the effects of methanol on people. ”We don’t even know for how long she viewed those screens or whether she even understood what she saw on those computer screens.”

As for the idea that Engelhardt isn't remorseful, Eraca-Cornish, said she is remorseful. She didn't cry in court during the trial, she said, because that would be highly inappropriate. She expressed remorse to the judge in a letter, the attorney said.

“She has suffered," Eraca-Cornish said. "Has she suffered as much as the Cianfrini family? Absolutely not. But she has suffered.”

When offered a chance to speak, Engelhardt told Buckley that she will never forgive herself.

“I was not fully medicated and stable enough to see my errors," she said.

When Jean Cianfrini, Andrew's grandmother, spoke to Buckley, she recalled in detail the reaction of the family to news of Andrew's death. As she spoke, supporters in the gallery began to sob.

She spoke at length about how Kristen's 7-year-old son has been devestated by his baby brother's death.

" 'Sometimes he irritated me, but I miss him,' " Jean recalled the boy saying once.

She said a day doesn't go by, more than a year later, that the boy doesn't talk about Andrew.

"He questions if there are children in heaven and if God plays with them, and if Andrew is not in heaven, will God send him back?” Jean said.

Outside court, Kristen had nothing good to say about Melissa Engelhardt, but indicated she was satisfied with the sentence.

"It's not 25 years. It's not life," said Kristen. "At least she will be in long enough that her children won't know her and hopefully when they get older they won't want anything to do with her."

Asked what she would say to Engelhardt, if she could, "I hope you rot and burn in hell," Kristen said. "I know my boy is haunting you every day of your life."

George Engelhardt, Andrew's father and Melissa's now estranged husband, also made a brief statement to the media.

"I don't think 20 years is enough," he said. "I'm just glad she will never see her children, my children, again. Her name is Melissa Miller. It's not Engelhardt, so, that's going to switch here quickly."

Photos: Top, Melissa Engelhardt reacts to the verdict. First inset, Melissa Engelhardt entering the court room. Second inset, Judge Peter Buckley. Third, George Engelhardt (father of Andrew). Bottom, John (grandfather) and Kristen (mother of Andrew) Cianfrini.

Family of Baby Andrew still shocked by manslaughter, rather than murder, verdict

By Howard B. Owens

When the verdict was pronounced, all Kristen Cianfrini could do was cry.

Melissa Engelhardt, who in her mind, had murdered her 21-month-old son, Andrew Cianfrini, was getting away with it.

Even though experts had told Kristen a manslaughter rather than a murder verdict was possible, especially from a reportedly liberal Chumung County judge who would render the decision in a non-jury trial, she didn't want to believe it.

"I just pushed it out of my mind," Kristen said. "I just thought the evidence was there."

And according to Ed Minardo, director of Genesee Justice, who sat with Kristen through the entire trial, it was.

"How can somebody put poison in a sippy cup and over the next 24 hours watch a baby get sicker and not take him to the hospital and that not be depraved indifference?" said Minardo.

George Engelhardt, Melissa's husband, didn't know what his wife was up to, according to testimony, and Melissa resisted his attempts to get her to take Andrew to the hospital. He didn't know Andrew had been poisoned.

"He was devastated (by the verdict)," Minardo said.

Kristen said her former boyfriend and Andrew's father tried to divorce Melissa after Andrew's death, but couldn't because she was pregnant with the couple's second child.

George Engelhardt doesn't currently have a phone. We've contacted him through Facebook seeking comment.

Judge Peter C. Buckley took more than an hour to read his verdict, meticulously going through his reasoning, while the supporters of Andrew Cianfrini grew increasingly fearful as Buckley's line thinking started to become clear.

"It got to the point where it was just like, 'Get it over with and let us get out of here,'" Minardo said. "It was tortuous."

Minardo said Buckley skipped right past evidence that 24-year-old Englehardt had discussed with friends how to poison a toddler, and that she had researched through Google how to poison a baby.

According to Minardo, the judge said that Engelhardt was unable to comprehend the articles she found online because she only has a GED-level education.

Minardo said Buckley put a lot of stock in the fact that Engelhardt had read that convulsions would proceed death in a methanol poisoning, ignoring statements in the same article that death is likely if a person ingests methanol.

"He used the evidence he wanted to support the conclusion he wanted to arrive at," Minardo said.

Engelhardt's whole idea of poisoning Andrew started with the thought, according to Minardo, that she could some how pin it on Kristen. Even if Andrew didn't die, she could get Kristen labeled an unfit and neglectful parent. Then George and Melissa could gain sole custody, and George would no longer be required to pay child support.

If the Elmira resident had been convicted of murder, she could have been locked away for more than 25 years, possibility for life. With a manslaughter conviction, the sentence range is five to 25 years.

"Andrew's not coming back," said his grandmother, Jean Cianfrini. "There is no justice, no matter how long she gets. But if she only gets give years, I don't think this family can handle it."

Minardo is hoping many people from Genesee County write letters to the Chumung County Probation Department asking that Melissa Engelhardt receive a long, if not the maximum sentence. The department is preparing the required report that Buckley will review prior to sentencing.

Minardo said the community could make a difference.

"The fact that he did not find her guilty of murder second doesn't mean he needs to be lenient in the sentence Melissa gets," Minardo said.

A long prison sentence, Kristen said, would help restore some of her damaged faith in the criminal justice system.

Engelhardt is scheduled for sentencing at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 6, in Elmira.

Letters for presentencing review can be sent to: 

Brian Dupont
Re: People v. Melissa Engelhardt
Chumung County Probation Department
203 Williams St.
Elmira, NY 14091

Photo: Jean Cianfrini, left, Kristen Cianfrini and Ed Minardo.

Contact info. for officials in Baby Andrew case

By Billie Owens

Concerned citizens who would like to write letters to the judge handling the Baby Andrew (Cianfrini) case can do so by writing him directly at:

Judge Peter C. Buckley
P.O. Box 588
(physical address is 224 Lake St.)
Elmira, NY 14901

(FYI...his office phone number is (607) 737-2940.)

For those wishing to write to Chemung County Probation Department, which is preparing a presentencing report for the killer of the 21-month-old toddler, the address is:

Atten: Brian Dupont
RE: People v. Melissa Engelhardt
Chemung County Probation Department
203 Williams St.
Elmira, NY 14091

Engelhardt is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Buckley at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 6, in Elmira.

Genesee County residents banding together to seek justice for Baby Andrew

By Howard B. Owens

A growing number of people in Genesee County have a message for Chemung County Judge Peter C. Buckley: Do right by Baby Andrew.

They already think Buckley has served justice poorly by not finding Andrew Cianfrini's killer -- his own stepmother, 24-year-old Melissa Engelhardt -- guilty of murder. Instead, Buckley found Engelhardt guilty of only manslaughter in a non-jury trial where Buckley was the sole fact-finder in the case.

More than 1,200 people have joined a Facebook group, Justice for Baby Andrew, and about 100 of them gathered Wednesday evening for a candlelight vigil at St. Joseph's Mausoleum, where Baby Andrew was laid to rest.

The vigil came on the one-year anniversary of Andrew's death and 26 days before Engelhardt is scheduled to be sentenced in Elmira.

"Today is a day to honor Andrew," said Kathy Dempski, a friend of Andrew's biological mother, Kristen. "But it's also a day to let the judge know about the injustice he gave to Andrew."

She later added, "She (Engelhardt) deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison. She doesn't deserve to walk out. She doesn't deserve anything."

Andrew's grandfather, John Cianfrini, pointed out that since Engelhardt was only convicted of manslaughter, the maximum penalty she faces is 25 years. She could receive as little as five years and then be eligible for parole after serving only two-thirds of that time. 

"You would have had to be there to appreciate what a devastating decision this was," Cianfrini said. "He (the judge) basically believed her story that she didn't intend to kill Andrew, only hurt him."

An expert toxicologist testified at trial that the 21-month-old toddler had twice the lethal amount of formic acid in his heart from the methanol in his system.

Methanol lowers the freezing point of water. It is a component of windshield-washer fluid.

Englehardt put the methanol in Andrew's sippy cup. Prior to poisoning Andrew, according to testimony, Englehardt did a computer search on how to poison a toddler.

John Cianfrini encouraged concerned residents to write letters to the probation department in Chemung County, which is in the midst of preparing a pre-sentence report that Buckley will review prior to imposing a sentence.

Englehardt is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 6.

Authentically Local