A Maine woman who was convicted of manslaughter after binding a 5-year-old foster child in a high chair with duct tape in 2001 was released from prison Tuesday.
Former Department of Health and Human Services supervisor Sally Schofield left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, WCSH-TV reported.
Schofield was sentenced to 17 years for manslaughter in the death of Logan Marr, who suffocated in an overturned high chair in Schofield’s basement in Chelsea. It was later learned that the placement of Logan and her sister in Schofield’s home violated state rules because of her DHHS employment.
Christy Darling, Logan’s mother, called Schofield a monster and said she should not have been released.
“I can’t believe it’s happening,” Darling said in an interview last month. “There’s no peace and justice for (Logan). It just must be nice to walk around free knowing you killed a child while the rest of us sit around and suffer. It blows my mind.”
Logan and her younger sister, Bailey, had been taken away from Darling – then known as Christy M. Baker – and placed in a series of foster homes before being moved to Schofield’s home in Chelsea. At the time, Schofield was a supervisor for the DHHS, and the placement violated state rules.
In 2002, Schofield was convicted of killing Logan a year earlier by wrapping the hysterical child in 47 feet of duct tape, some of it covering her mouth. The girl was bound to a highchair and left alone in a basement, where she was later found unresponsive.
Bailey was returned to her mother after Logan’s death.
The case spurred reform throughout the DHHS, leading to sweeping changes in Maine’s child welfare system, including an effort to place children with relatives rather than in foster care.
Conditions of Schofield’s probation prohibit her from contact with children except for her own and those of relatives with supervision.
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