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Toddler’s body still at morgue more than five months after death

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – It was a month ago the Lewis County coroner initiated a civil action, asking a judge to decide which funeral home he can call to pick up the body of a toddler – who died last autumn – from the coroner’s office.

Coroner Warren McLeod felt he was at an impasse because the unmarried parents of 3-year-old Jasper Henderling-Warner couldn’t agree about which mortuary should cremate the child.

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Jasper Henderling-Warner

McLeod yesterday said he’s still waiting, but now it’s for the court system.

“It’s keeping me awake at night,” McLeod said yesterday.

Jasper is the subject of a homicide case, and from his death on October 5 until the end of January, McLeod was not allowed to release his body. The Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office had issued a hold order in case lawyers for the accused wanted to get a second autopsy.

Jasper died from what the coroner called chronic battered child syndrome. The Vader couple who were caring for him, Danny and Brenda Wing, remain jailed pending a trial in May.

McLeod hoped the request for a declaratory judgement filed Feb. 11 in Lewis County Superior Court would help move the process along, so Jasper could be laid to rest.

The hope was each parent would be served quickly with a summons and complaint, and respond within the 20 days allowed. And then a judge would hold a hearing and make them agree or make a decision.

However, McLeod yesterday said he learned the legal documents were served by the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office not upon the father, Casey Henderling, but upon Henderling’s roommate in Longview. McLeod said he called Henderling’s phone number on Monday, and was told he no longer lived there.

The mother, Nikki Warner, has been calling his office repeatedly, McLeod said.

But it turns out the Clark County Sheriff’s Office is four to six weeks behind getting documents served. It could be another two to three weeks before they get the court papers to Warner who lives in the Vancouver area, he said.

Meanwhile, Jasper’s body continues to be stored at the Lewis County Corner’s Office in Chehalis.

Jasper’s parents do agree they want to split the ashes following cremation, according to McLeod.

He said he realized in December Henderling and Warner didn’t agree on where Japer’s body would be taken care of, and tried to help them resolve the differences. A no-contact order prevents the parents from communication with each other, according to the court documents.

On Jan. 28, McLeod was freed from the prosecutor’s hold on the body, and tried for two weeks to get unified direction from the parents before filing the civil action on Feb. 11.
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For background, read “Toddler’s body lingers at morgue more than four months” from Thursday February 19, 2015, here [2]