Babysitter pleads guilty to manslaughter in 2019 death of a man she injured as a baby in 1984

A former babysitter pleaded guilty to manslaughter Wednesday for the 2019 death of a man she was accused of disabling as an infant 40 years ago.

Terry McKirchy, 62, accepted a plea deal for the death of Benjamin Dowling, who died at 35 after a life of severe disabilities caused by a brain hemorrhage he suffered in 1984 when he was 5 months old while at McKirchy's suburban Fort Lauderdale home. Investigators believed she caused the injury by shaking him.

In a letter of apology read to Dowling's parents by her attorney, assistant public defender David Fry, McKirchy said she was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by taking care of numerous children and struck him, causing his injuries.