Wow. Just watched the Dateline rerun about this story on OWN. I can't believe Michelle's own mother was so unbelievably cruel and indifferent when speaking about her daughter, especially her conversation with the investigator. How could a toddler do anything that would make her biological mother say she doesn't care about where she is, what her condition is, and that she is "dead to her"? My eyes rolled into the back of my head when she essentially said Michelle was dead, and then clarified that she meant the child was "dead to her", and she didn't say she was dead. Ridiculous. That woman is cold to the bone and I have no doubt she killed her daughter. Maybe her husband at the time, the stepdad, assisted her, but I am not sure. My gut feeling is that the mother did it, knows exactly what happened, and will never tell anyone. IMHO, she is a sociopath with a thin mask of sanity. All her emotions, stories, actions; they all seem false as can be. I think she enjoys/enjoyed the fact that her ex-husband would never have or know his daughter again, or what happened to her. I just cannot grasp her actions and words regarding her daughter.
The stepdad was a known abuser and possible molester (I do not remember if this was proven by the courts or any documentation), so I do believe it's possible he assaulted her and killed her, accidentally or not. I am sure Donna helped in some way, be it in just disposing the body and lying about it. If Donna was abused, perhaps she took out her own hurt on her daughter and killed her in a fit, just to feel some sense of power or control in a situation where she had little (being in an abusive relationship).
It's so, so sad that justice may never come for that little girl. The judge dropped all charges and said Donna could never be retried in the death of her daughter. She should rot in a hole with no one to care for or about her, the same way she neglected Michelle and tried to erase her existence completely away. I feel so bad for her father and brother. This case is just completely heartbreaking... :tears: