Pair Plead Not Guilty in Girl’s Death

A Lake Los Angeles couple whose neglect prosecutors say caused their disabled daughter to starve to death pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of murder and child abuse.

Michael and Kathleen “Katrina” Gentry, 54 and 44, were arrested July 23 after a two-year investigation by Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide detectives and the district attorney’s office into the death of Lindsay Gentry, 15, in a Fontana hospital Feb. 6, 1996.

The teenager suffered from a rare neurological disease that stunted her growth, caused curvature of the spine and severe cataracts in her eyes. She weighed only 46 pounds when her parents brought her to the hospital for intravenous feeding six days before her death.

On Monday, Municipal Judge Dale Fischer scheduled a preliminary hearing for Aug. 26 to determine whether there is enough evidence to try the Gentrys, both of whom remain jailed in lieu of $1 million bail.

Prosecutors contend the couple caused their daughter’s death by neglecting to feed her. Sheriff’s detectives say they brought the charges only after gathering information from sources including school officials, medical experts and child-welfare workers as well as from volumes of medical and other records.

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In an interview with The Times last week, Michael Gentry denied wrongdoing, saying he and his wife wanted only the best for their daughter. Gentry, an electronics communications technician at Fox Airport in Lancaster, said he went into debt to pay for medical care for Lindsay, who suffered from myotonic dystrophy, which is characterized by progressive weakness and deterioration of the muscles.

The disease can cause chronic constipation and lack of appetite, and Lindsay, whom doctors had expected to die earlier, refused to eat, Gentry said.

Gentry told The Times that he and his wife are the victims of a vendetta by school officials who were upset the couple pulled their daughter out of special education classes in 1995 to educate her at home.

Kathleen Gentry’s attorney, David Houchin, called the charges “absolutely outrageous” Monday, saying his client loved her daughter and had never been in trouble with the law.

“We have heard from so many people who knew this couple and knew how they cared for their child,” Houchin said. “She was just getting over the death of her daughter when the charges were filed.”

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Kathleen Cady said there is strong reason to believe that Lindsay died as a result of abuse.

“We wouldn’t have filed the charges if we didn’t have the evidence to support them,” she said.