It started out as an experiment, some sort of twisted religious passage.
It mushroomed into something else entirely.
On Wednesday, Douglas County District Judge Duane Dougherty sentenced Christopher Ewerdt, 39, and Cynthia Ewerdt, 37, to five years of probation for child abuse for giving their 12-year-old daughter mushrooms.
Prosecutor Molly Keane said the couple had given the girl mushrooms three or four times.
The Ewerdts were arrested in August after a hotel worker found their 12-year-old daughter, crying and covered in mud, wandering at 3 a.m. near 107th and Pacific Streets.
The family told detectives they had taken mushrooms together as part of a "spiritual journey."
Dougherty said the journey was criminal, not spiritual.
He called the couple's behavior "appalling." However, he said, he was relieved that Nebraska Health and Human Services will continue to oversee the child — and the interaction she has with her parents.
The couple do not have custody of their daughter, who is in foster care and under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court.
The Ewerdts faced up to five years of probation or up to 25 years in prison after pleading no contest to child abuse and possession of a controlled substance.
"This is wrongheaded thinking but it wasn't out of some sick need to see the child use drugs," Assistant Douglas County Public Defender Leslie Cavanaugh said. "It was out of the belief — a belief that Mr. Ewerdt is now mortified about — that it was some sort of spiritual awakening."
The couple, who had been jailed since their August arrest, were released Wednesday. Both were ordered to undergo treatment and family counseling as part of their probation.
“I can’t imagine that anyone would do this to their own children,” Dougherty told Christopher Ewerdt.
“However, I am given some comfort, quite a bit of comfort, that juvenile court has an ongoing file for you and your wife. The overall goal being to solve your problems and your wife’s problems.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1275, todd.cooper@owh.com
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