WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA Mom blames housemate in death

The adoptive mother is charged with assault and child endangerment.
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- A woman accused of abusing her adopted daughter before the teenager's sudden death has blamed a housemate for the hundreds of bruises that covered the girl's body.
Lisa M. Iarussi blamed Linda Fisher and a bike accident for the 200 bruises and scarred head, lip and ear that the Erie County coroner discovered during his autopsy of 15-year-old Brittany Legler, who died May 9.
Iarussi said Fisher suffocated Brittany during a wrestling match.
Iarussi, who adopted Brittany on Jan. 1, 2001, was charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment. Police allege Iarussi beat the teenager for months before her death.
Investigators are also considering whether a congenital heart defect contributed to Brittany's death. Family members said two of her cousins had the ailment.
In a telephone interview from the Erie County Prison, Iarussi, 35, told the Erie Times-News that she used physical punishment to discipline Legler, but never hit her with her fist. The teenager also easily bruised because she was anemic, Iarussi said.
Denied accusations
Fisher, who lived with Iarussi for two years, denied the accusations against her. She said Iarussi beat her and Brittany with a hairbrush and forced them to wrestle on the day the teenager died.
Iarussi adopted Brittany from a childhood friend, Rosa Pollard, after child-welfare officials told the teenager's biological mother that she couldn't raise her six children on her own, Pollard said.
Two of Pollard's children went to live with relatives and Brittany went to live with Iarussi, Pollard said.
After the adoption, Iarussi didn't allow the teen to see her family, Pollard said.
"It was like she never wanted us to be in Brittany's life," Pollard said.
According to prosecutors, school officials and court documents, Millcreek Township school officials made numerous reports of suspected abuse to police.
Erie County's Office of Children and Youth has asked an emergency review team to investigate the agency's handling of Legler's case. But because of confidentiality laws, the case won't be made public unless the state Department of Public Welfare orders the county agency to undergo "corrective action," a department spokeswoman said.
Iarussi's preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 23.