Father Who Killed Baby by Throwing Her to Floor Gets 3-Year Term

A 21-year-old Van Nuys man who killed his 17-month-old daughter by throwing her to the floor of his apartment was sentenced Friday to three years in state prison for manslaughter.

The man, Parker Merrell Crumb, told police that he grew angry with the child because she paid no attention to him, court records show.

“Family and friends would be around and I would be so embarrassed because I couldn’t get her to sit with me,” Crumb told the sentencing judge Friday in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Crumb, who had been charged with murder in the August, 1986, incident, pleaded guilty in October to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter. The child, Kassandra, died of head injuries, according to a coroner’s report.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lloyd M. Nash urged Judge Richard A. Adler to impose the maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, saying of Crumb, “He’s not exactly your pillar of society.”

Nash said court records indicate that Crumb has a history of fighting and that his wife, Vonda, reported he had struck her on many occasions.

Vonda Crumb also told police that her husband had beaten their daughter for several days before she died, according to court documents.

But Adler, saying Crumb had no serious criminal record, imposed the three-year term. The judge rejected a defense plea for probation.

Crumb, who most recently was employed by the Navy, will be eligible for parole in about a year, Nash said.

Vonda Crumb, 19, pleaded guilty to child endangering for permitting her daughter to remain in an abusive home. She faces a maximum of one year in County Jail when she is sentenced Feb. 23.