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Warren mom says she'd be ‘shocked’ if son’s death not an accident
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Judith Owens, mother of Russell Cottrill, says her son loved her common-law husband, Arthur Harper, “and Art loved him. There was no question in my mind.”
She remembers times when she and Russell would return to their High Street Northeast home, and the ever-energetic Russell would run in the house to Harper and say, “Daddy, Daddy,” Owens said. Russell would have turned 4 in a week.
Harper, 43, is now in the Trumbull County jail, charged with felony child endangering after he called 911 last Saturday evening to report that Russell was unresponsive. The boy died Monday in a Cleveland hospital after suffering what a Warren police detective called “severe head trauma.”
A ruling on the cause and manner of death is pending in Cuyahoga County.
Owens said she is reserving judgment on what caused her son’s death, saying: “I try not to judge people, regardless of the outcome. That’s just me. This thing in particular, [Harper] is going to have to live with the rest of his life,” adding later: “We all make mistakes.”
Owens, who was working at the time her son was injured, said she’s trying to stay positive and remember how her son “brought a smile to everyone he met.”
She said she also gets comfort from knowing that three of his organs were saved and went to three other children.
“There are parents who have a child and are not having to bury theirs like I have to do,” she said. Funeral arrangements for Russell are pending, she said.
She experienced the pain of losing a child before. In February 2012, her son Awstin, 5, died a few weeks after receiving a transplanted heart, she said.
“I’m sad that my child isn’t here,” she said of Russell. “This house is quiet. My son was a bundle of energy.”
He loved macaroni and cheese and hog dogs, cars and trucks, playing in the backyard pool and sandbox, and PBS shows such as “Thomas and Friends” and “Cat in the Hat.”
Owens said she is getting “conflicting stories” about what caused Russell’s death, but Harper did not have a temper, is not violent and disciplined Russell with timeouts. He gave Russell medicine when he was sick, gave him his bath and took care of meals, laundry and the house.
She met Harper, who is disabled and doesn’t work, in 2014. He moved in with Owens and Russell this summer.
“If it turned out not to be an accident, I would be shocked,” Owens said of Russell’s death, adding that Harper “roughhoused” with Russell sometimes.
Owens said she was unaware of any incidents of abuse or neglect involving Russell and Harper. “He’s a really good guy,” she said.