Fayette County father sentenced for fatally beating daughter

Domer Burkholder had nothing to say on Friday when a Fayette County judge sent him to prison for as long as 40 years in the fatal beating of his 20-month-old daughter.

His family said the toddler's death was a tragic accident, and they questioned the mother's lesser charges.

“He thought he might have been too rough,” Burkholder's brother Robert, 40, of White said after the hearing in which President Judge John F. Wagner Jr. imposed the maximum of 20 to 40 years for third-degree homicide.

“He manned up and accepted what he did,” Burkholder said. “He didn't deny it.”

During a hearing on Wednesday in which Domer Burkholder pleaded guilty to third-degree homicide and child endangerment, he testified that he punched his daughter, Caylee Jo, in the stomach on Nov. 14, in his North Union residence.

Police said he and his wife, Jessica Marie Burkholder, did not seek medical treatment for the girl until the next day.

In an affidavit, Trooper Heather Clem-Johnston said Caylee Jo was treated in Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for a bruised and bulging stomach, but she died on Nov. 15, of blunt-force trauma consistent with physical abuse.

Jessica Burkholder, 28, is charged with child endangerment for failing to provide Caylee Jo with immediate medical care when she was punched. She declined to comment, but previously said she was offered a tentative plea bargain that called for six to 23 months of intermediate punishment and two years of probation.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Mehalov said a formal plea offer has not been extended. Jessica Burkholder's case is listed for trial in December.

Domer Burkholder's brother and father said they believe Jessica Burkholder should have faced more serious charges.

“ (Domer Burkholder) needs to pay for what he's done, but I just feel she should get a lot stricter punishment,” said the father, Domer Burkholder, 63, of Connellsville.

The two men said Jessica Burkholder could have taken the child to the hospital.

In the affidavit of probable cause, Clem-Johnston said Jessica Burkholder told police that her husband disciplined Caylee Jo by spanking her on the buttocks and grabbing her “roughly” by the arm. Both parents said Domer Burkholder punched Caylee Jo in the stomach, according to the affidavit.

Jessica Burkholder told police she argued with her husband over the incident and he left the residence. She said Caylee Jo ate, but she vomited several times after she was given a bath.

The next morning, more vomit was found in the playpen where the child slept, according to the affidavit. When Jessica Burkholder changed Caylee's diaper, she noticed the girl's stomach was bruised and bulging.

The child was driven to Uniontown Hospital, then flown to Children's, where she was pronounced dead.

Wagner ordered Domer Burkholder returned to the state Correctional Institution at Albion, where he is serving a term of up to four years on retail theft convictions. The homicide sentence is to be served consecutively to the retail theft sentences, for a total term of 22 to 44 years.

Jessica Burkholder is free on bond.

The couple have three other children who are in the care of a relative, according to Domer Burkholder's family.

Liz Zemba is a staff writer for Trib Total Media.