h14-month-old leaves hospital after recovery

h14-month-old leaves hospital after recovery
EDMONTON, Alberta -- Lela Nordby holds her 14-month-old baby, Erika, during a news conference in Edmonton. With a wave goodbye to hospital workers who saved her life, Erika went home Friday, more than a month after her heart stopped beating for two hours after she wandered into the frigid night.
The toddler's body temperature was 61 degrees when emergency workers arrived Feb. 24 at the house where she was found lying face down in the snow.
Despite her ordeal, Erika has made a complete recovery, showing no signs of internal organ or brain damage that can occur in such cases. She required minor surgery to repair damaged skin on one foot.
"Her fighting spirit that has gotten her this far will, I'm sure, be a valuable asset," Lela Nordby, 26, said as Erika squirmed on her lap Friday.
"We are going home today with a very bright future," the mother said. "I got my little girl back and all her limbs have been spared. Erika's recovery has been nothing short of a miracle."
Erika's story has been reported around the world, with doctors in Edmonton calling her recovery miraculous.
Suspect gets 20 yearsin O'Hair case
AUSTIN, Texas -- The key suspect in the slaying of atheist leader Madalyn Murray O'Hair and two of her family members was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison on a federal extortion charge.
David Waters, 54, admitted in January that he did "threaten and commit physical violence" to O'Hair, 76, her son Jon Garth Murray, 40, and granddaughter Robin Murray O'Hair, 30.
Waters led authorities to a mass grave west of San Antonio containing the dismembered and burned remains of the family in January. He agreed to disclose the grave in return for being allowed to plead guilty to a single extortion conspiracy charge.
Waters is already serving 60 years on a state robbery conviction.
The family disappeared from San Antonio in 1995 along with $500,000 in gold coins.
Convicted rapistsentenced in slaying
BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- A man convicted of rape and murder in the case of a 13-year-old boy who suffocated during sexual bondage was sentenced to the maximum Friday -- life in prison without parole.
"Usually a murder is over in a minute. In this case, this victim was left helpless and bound," Judge David Clinger told Joshua Macabe Brown, 23. "Trying to imagine his thought process has sent shivers up my spine."
Brown was found guilty last week in the 1999 death of Jesse Dirkhising at the apartment Brown shared with his lover, Davis Don Carpenter, 39.
Prosecutors said the men drugged the boy, bound him with duct tape and rope, gagged him with his own underwear and penetrated him sexually.
Last week, Brown was spared the death penalty when the jury acquitted him of capital murder but found him guilty of first-degree murder. The jury sentenced him to 25 years for the rape but deadlocked over the penalty for murder.
Royal engagement
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Queen Beatrix announced the engagement of her son Crown Prince Willem Alexander to an Argentine woman on Friday. But the bride's father -- once a top official in an Argentine dictatorship -- won't be at the wedding.
"It gives me great pleasure to announce the engagement," of the 33-year-old prince to Maxima Zorreguieta, the queen said in a rare nationally televised address.
The wedding will be early next year, Prime Minister Wim Kok said. He said the bride's father would not attend.
Her father, Jorge Zorreguieta, served as agriculture minister for two years during the 1976-83 dictatorship of President Jorge Videla. At least 9,000 people disappeared in the junta's military crackdown on left-wing opponents and dissidents, according to U.N. reports.
Associated Press