Trial begins for Cody woman accused of killing toddler

Child’s father to be tried at later date
POWELL — A two-week-long trial began on Monday for a Cody woman accused of abusing and causing the death of a toddler in 2021. 
Carolyn Aune, 30, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 2-year-old Paisleigh Williams. Aune had been living with the child’s father, 32-year-old Moshe Williams, who is also charged with murder but will be tried at a separate date. 
 
Paisleigh died after suffering some kind of forceful blow to her abdomen that severed her intestines — and after her father and Aune were too slow to seek medical attention, authorities allege. One of the big questions in the case has been how the child was injured. 
 
At the time, Aune and Williams told police they didn’t know what had happened, offering theories that police found implausible. 
 
Prosecutors will seek to show Aune dealt the fatal injuries to the child, while she plans to testify that it was Moshe Williams, who has invoked his right to remain silent and will not testify at the trial. 
 
“What happened to Paisleigh … it’s shocking, it’s appalling, it’s horrific, but it wasn’t done by Ms. Aune,” said her court-appointed attorney, Elisabeth Trefonas. 
 
“She did not harm Paisleigh. Not ever,” Trefonas said, asserting Williams injured the toddler after becoming frustrated with her. 
 
However, Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Hatfield said the state’s evidence will show Aune intentionally “did the act that ultimately led to [the child’s] death” and recklessly failed to get the toddler timely medical attention. 
 
The state will ask the jury to convict Aune of murder under either or both of those theories. 
 
Hatfield said there will be evidence showing Paisleigh was abused over a period of months in early 2021, including multiple broken bones. 
 
The child suffered a broken clavicle in early March, he said, and Aune and Williams waited days before seeking medical care. 
 
Still, “for all intents and purposes, she [was] fine” when Williams brought her to a doctor’s appointment on March 25, 2021, Hatfield said. 
 
But her condition quickly took a dramatic turn. 
 
When Williams brought the child to the Cody Regional Health emergency room on the afternoon of March 27, she was unresponsive, with bruises all over her body. Despite the efforts of medical personnel — including an emergency flight to a children’s hospital in Colorado — Paisleigh died days later. 
 
Cody Police Sgt. Juston Wead testified Tuesday that the substantial bruises on Paisley’s back, head and legs were “obvious.” 
 
“They would have been known,” Wead said. 
 
The fatal injury, doctors ultimately determined, was that the child’s bowel had been severed by some kind of blunt force, like a “gut punch.” 
 
Statements that Aune and Williams made to police in 2021 indicated Paisleigh had begun throwing up on March 26 and gotten progressively worse, which doctors believe was due to the severed intestines. 
 
Hatfield said medical experts will testify that “the delay in care cost [Paisleigh] her life.” 
 
At the time, Williams and Aune told police they didn’t know how she’d been injured or bruised, offering a series of implausible explanations — such as a fall off her low-lying toddler bed — and each suggested the other must have done something to the child.
 
Cody police became especially skeptical after they overheard Aune asking Williams what he was going to tell the authorities about Paisleigh. 
 

 
“It gives the perception that they’re trying to or had talked [about] these bruises,” Wead said. 
 
Hatfield said testimony will show Williams told a friend around midday on March 27 and said Paisleigh had been beaten from “head to toe” and was throwing up. 
 
When the friend told Williams to take the toddler to the hospital, Williams reportedly responded, “I’m a black man, I can’t do that. They’ll think that I did it.” 
 
Hatfield called that evidence “very important” in the case against Aune. 
 
He also suggested the time period in which Paisleigh was reportedly abused roughly corresponded with the time that Aune — who has three children of her own — began babysitting Paisleigh and Williams’ younger son. 
 
However, Aune’s attorney said Williams cared for Paisleigh the vast majority of the time and was in charge of her when he was home. 
 
Without offering specific details, Trefonas said her client will testify that Paisleigh was injured by Williams in a violent “ interaction ” that took place on the night of March 26, 2021. 
 
Although medical experts said the toddler’s vomiting stemmed from the injury to her abdomen, Aune apparently plans to testify that the child began throwing up before the trauma was inflicted. 
 
Trefnas told jurors they’ll hear that Williams became frustrated because his daughter kept getting sick, requiring multiple baths. After hearing a commotion in the bathroom, Aune “tried to stop something from escalating,” Trefonas said, but she left the bathroom to escort her own daughter away from the traumatic situation. 
 
The defense attorney said Aune wishes she’d done some things differently — noting that her planned testimony will differ from what she originally told police — but said her actions were reasonable. 
 
For instance, she said Williams prevented Aune from seeing the extent of the child’s injuries. 
 
“When we come into this room, we want to do justice, and doing justice for Paisleigh is to get this right and to do your job,” Trefonas told jurors. “And at the end of the evidence, I believe that you will return a verdict of not guilty for Ms. Aune.” 
 
Meanwhile, the state will attempt to make the case that Aune abused the toddler. 
 
Hatfield wrote in a court filing last year that Aune was experiencing “growing frustration” and was struggling to care for all the children when Williams was at work. 
 
Aune had watched the kids on the morning of March 26 while Williams worked at his part-time job. She was also alone with them that night, as Williams took his son to the Cody ER for an unrelated issue; he and the boy were there from 11 p.m. on March 26 until 4 a.m. on March 27, according to testimony. 
 
In an effort to present “everything that we have,” Hatfield intends to call a total of 26 witnesses in a trial that could last through the end of next week. 
 
“It’s going to take a long time,” he told the jury, “but every witness has something important.” 
 
The defense will have the opportunity to present witnesses after the state.
 
This story was published on April 20, 2023.