Brian Dykstra, 35, is charged with second-degree murder in the 2005 death of his 21-month-old son Isaac Dykstra.
Looking back, there were signs that her 21-month-old son was suffering from a severe brain injury in the days before he was rushed to the hospital on Aug. 13, 2005, Lisa DeWaard testified Monday in the second-degree murder trial of her former husband, Brian Dykstra.
After Isaac Dykstra fell down two stairs on Aug. 10, DeWaard said her son was sleepier. He also had a large bump on his head, he was fussier, and he didn’t play or try to walk as much as he usually did, DeWaard told the 14 jurors hearing her ex-husband’s case in Johnson County District Court.
“Looking back, I wish we would have taken him into Mercy immediately,” she said.
The couple, who lived in Iowa City at the time, didn’t take Isaac to the hospital after he fell Aug. 10. But they called the nurse, who told them that if he hadn’t vomited, he hadn’t suffered a head injury.
On Aug. 13, while DeWaard was away at a church function, Dykstra called 911 and hung up. When an operator called back, Dykstra asked that paramedics come because his son was struggling to breathe.
When medical personnel arrived, they found Isaac with severe head injuries, and rushed him to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where he was treated for brain swelling, hemorrhaging and retinal bleeding.
Isaac was pronounced brain dead on Aug. 14, 2005.
DeWaard initially told doctors and authorities that Isaac was his normal self in the days after the fall on Aug. 10. But, on the stand Monday, DeWaard said he developed bruising on his face, had more bowel movements than normal, wanted to be held more and seemed lethargic.
“I thought he was coming down with Brian’s cold,” she said.
Dykstra’s defense attorney Leon Spies showed jurors pictures of Isaac in the days that preceded his death. One showed him sitting on his father’s lap with visible bruises on his ears. DeWaard said Isaac often pinched his own ears, which she thought was the result of stress from the adoption.
Spies also showed a photo of Isaac eating breakfast on the day before he was rushed to the hospital – two days after the short fall. The photo, which showed visible bruising around Isaac’s eyes, caused DeWaard to choke up.
“That was the last picture taken of him,” she said. “And it was unusual because he’s not smiling, and he was always smiling.”
DeWaard and her mother testified that Dykstra was a loving and gentle father, who was proud and wanted to show off his son.
“(Isaac) loved Brian,” DeWaard testified. “Isaac would sit with him and watch TV. Isaac wanted to be in the dugout with daddy. … They had a very close relationship.”
On the day Isaac was rushed to the hospital, DeWaard said Dykstra called her crying.
“I went into the emergency room, and that’s when I saw Brian,” DeWaard said. “He was a mess. He had been crying. The second I saw him, he gave me this big hug and broke down crying.”
Doctors and authorities previously testified that Dykstra appeared unemotional when they arrived at the house and rushed the child to the hospital. They also testified that the injuries that took Isaac’s life had to have occurred on the day he was hospitalized.
Elizabeth Field, who said she knew the Dykstra’s through church, testified Monday that the atmosphere in the hospital when she arrived Aug. 13 was “disturbing.”
“The atmosphere was disturbing in the sense that they were accusing Brian of purposeful injury on this child,” she said. “It was troubling to see the staff’s demeanor.”
The defense expects to call three more witnesses in the trial, which started last week.
