State Shuts Care Home Where Child Was Fatally Hurt : Investigation: The death occurred in March but was made public only this week. It is classified as a homicide by “blunt force trauma.” No arrests have been made.

Authorities have shut down a Tustin day-care home while they investigate the death of a 2-year-old boy who was fatally injured last March while under the care of the center’s operator.

David Alan Wigle of Tustin died at a local hospital shortly after he was found in a semiconscious state at the Cheshire Place day-care home, owned by Mary Ann Lynch, Tustin Police Lt. Houston Williams said.

“The child’s death has been classified as a homicide,” the result of “blunt force trauma,” Kathleen Norris, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services, said on Thursday.

Williams said detectives have not made any arrests in the case and do not expect to make any soon. He declined to say whether they have identified any possible suspects.

“It is still under investigation,” Williams said.

Lynch’s license was suspended to ensure the safety of other children under her care, a licensing official said.

Lynch, 40, and her husband, Gregory, remained in seclusion and could not be reached for comment.

Though police routinely report killings and fatal accidents, they chose not to release information about the March 19 slaying. State social services officials also did not make public David’s death until Wednesday.

Lisa Villardi, director of child care services at the Children’s Home Society, said that Lynch was on her agency’s referral list--available to parents seeking licensed day-care providers--until this week. The society provides referral services throughout the state.

” . . . The disappointing thing is no one notified us (about the investigation) until the other day,” Villardi said. “We might have been referring people to her, but we don’t know whether we did.”

Williams said detectives investigating the case initially had no solid evidence other than bruises on David’s abdomen to suggest that he died at the hands of another person.

“There was really nothing for us to put out at the time,” Williams said. “We were acting in the best interest of the family.”

Lynch voluntarily closed down her operation two days after David died, according to licensing documents. But she reopened about two weeks later for an undetermined amount of time, said Mary C. Lefley, an administrator at the Department of Social Services’ licensing branch in Orange County.

She eventually closed again, authorities said, and was not running the operation when the suspension was issued on Monday.

Her license was not immediately pulled because “there was no urgency,” said Norris of the Department of Social Services. Later, the agency issued the suspension order “because there was an indication she was going to open again.” She will have an administrative hearing next month.

While the Orange County coroner’s office awaited results of the autopsy, police and state social services officials quietly conducted their investigations.

In the first week after David’s death, state licensing workers made three unannounced visits to the home, according to licensing documents.

Deputy Coroner James D. Beisner said his department issued its findings on May 9. He declined to discuss further any details of the case, citing the ongoing investigation.

The announcement that the child had died in the care of day-care workers finally came on Wednesday, when the state Department of Social Services issued a press release.

Norris said David died of “blunt force trauma.”

Police Lt. Williams said that on March 19, officers went to the Lynches’ home in the 14000 block of Cheshire Street about 3:45 p.m. on a report that a child was not breathing. When authorities got to the house, a paramedic grabbed David and jumped into a police car.

The officer rushed David to Health Care Medical Center in Tustin while the paramedic tried to revive the boy, Williams said.

He was pronounced dead on arrival.

Lynch’s husband, Gregory, later reportedly told another day-care provider that his wife had frantically dialed 911 and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation until help arrived.

David’s parents were not available for comment, but his grandfather, Francis Jordan of Santa Ana, said the family was still struggling to cope with the child’s death.

“My daughter and her husband, all of us are kind of upset about it right now,” Jordan said during a short telephone interview. He added that police have not provided the family with information about David’s death or the investigation.

The Department of Social Services complaint against Lynch states that she either killed the child, permitted him to be killed or “provided such inadequate care” that the boy died.

She is also accused of not providing the department with fingerprints of co-worker Lilia Roman, a Mexican national who was reportedly unable to communicate with the children, authorities said.

Roman was reportedly left with the children, often more than the law allows, while Lynch allegedly was away for “extended periods of time,” according to court documents.

Lefley of the Orange County licensing branch said she feels that the department has enough evidence to argue for permanent revocation of Lynch’s license.

“We don’t issue (temporary suspension orders) willy-nilly,” Lefley said, adding that Lynch’s license was the sixth to be suspended this year in the county. “We have a strong case.”

Lynch, who has operated the business out of her home since December, 1983, was twice investigated for verbally abusing children, according to licensing documents.

In February, 1984, licensing officials followed up on a complaint that she told one child, “I’m going to break you before you break me,” documents show. Lynch responded at the time by writing, “I don’t pick on children.”

Then in November, 1986, licensing officials investigated a complaint regarding “concerns of violation of child’s civil rights in that Mrs. Lynch allegedly verbally abuses children.”

Lynch again responded in writing, this time saying: “I don’t agree. This is just a false statement to get me in trouble.”

Two years later, Lynch was cited for caring for more children than her license allows. She responded: “I plan on letting the extra children go.”

Lynch’s current three-year license was renewed in June, 1990. At the time, she was written up for not anchoring a swing set into the ground and leaving a work shed open.