On June 6, 2019, three-month-old Remi Joan Cowan was fatally injured in the care of her babysitter, Meghan Lynn Borgess of Williamsport. Tragically, Remi died at Geisinger Medical Center on June 7, 2019 of irreversible brain damage caused by asphyxiation. 

Despite inconsistencies in the story given by the babysitter as compared to the findings of an autopsy, Remi's death was never properly investigated.

Remi's full story can be read here and heard here. 

An autopsy performed by Montour County Coroner Scott Lynn revealed that Remi’s death was unintentional but preventable.

After Remi’s death, her parents, Matthew and Ashley Cowan, were told by investigators that Meghan Borgess could not be drug tested, because she would test positive for synthetic opioids due to her daily dose of methadone. The Cowans were unaware and uninformed that the woman caring for two of their children was chronically under the ongoing influence of an addictive substance that can cause anxiety, weakness, and drowsiness, among other side effects. They had noticed Meghan appearing drowsy and irritable in the weeks prior to Remi’s death and were in the process of transitioning their two young children to a new babysitter when Remi died.

Meghan Borgess was only interviewed once by investigators. She refused to participate in a polygraph examination. She told investigators that Remi was spitting up profusely the day of her fatal injury, positing that as the reason for Remi’s death, although the autopsy revealed no fluid in Remi’s lungs. Meghan claimed that despite Remi’s vomiting, she put the baby, who could not yet roll over, face down on a daybed across the room from her own bed, where she settled in for a nap with the Cowans’ other child.

That in itself is flagrant recklessness and negligence on Meghan’s part. Any reasonable caregiver would know better than to place a vomiting infant on her stomach across the room and then voluntarily fall into a deep, drug-induced sleep. As a babysitter accepting money from a child’s parents to supervise and care for the child, Meghan Borgess was reckless and negligent by voluntarily taking a nap during the commission of her paid duties.

Coroner Scott Lynn inferred in his autopsy report that the story given by Meghan Borgess to investigators was not consistent with his findings. He strongly recommended the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office have Remi’s case reviewed by a panel of experts to determine if criminal charges were warranted, but his recommendation was ignored.

According to the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law (CPSL), §6303(b.1)(1, 5, 9), the definition of child abuse includes: intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to a child through any recent act or failure to act; creating a reasonable likelihood of bodily injury to a child through any recent act or failure to act; or causing the death of the child through any act or failure to act. By her own admission, the reckless actions taken by Meghan Borgess on June 6, 2019 fall under this definition of child abuse.

According to Pennsylvania law §2504(a) regarding involuntary manslaughter, a person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when as a direct result of the doing of a lawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, he causes the death of another person. Again, by her own admission, the reckless and negligent actions taken by Meghan Borgess on June 6, 2019 fall under this definition of involuntary manslaughter.

Meghan Borgess has a lengthy criminal history, a prison record, and an ongoing drug problem. Her own adult son is willing to speak to investigators to tell his story of the abuse and neglect he and his sisters have endured at the hands of their mother. This is not the first time the actions of Meghan Borgess have caused real or threatened mental or physical harm to a child.

We demand a proper investigation into the death of Remi Joan Cowan, who was a mere sixteen weeks of age when her life ended due to the recklessness and negligence of her paid caregiver, Meghan Lynn Borgess.

Remi's parents and three sisters deserve justice.