A Riverside County woman who ran a foster home for disabled children is again facing a murder charge after it was initially dismissed a year and a half ago.
Michelle Louise Morris-Kerin, 82, and her husband, Edward Lawrence Kerin, 81, of Morris Small Family Home were arraigned again on Thursday in Riverside County, and both pleaded not guilty, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
The couple faced about two dozen combined charges, including murder, manslaughter, lewd acts on dependent adults and child endangerment, among other felonies, after their 2021 arrests.
According to prosecutors, the couple’s now-closed foster home for disabled children in the La Cresta area near Murrieta was found to be the site of “ongoing physical abuse and neglect of dependent children and adults, along with the sexual abuse of three dependent adults who were under the care of the defendants.”
The alleged misconduct surfaced after a Department of Social Services investigation into the 2019 death of Diane “Princess” Ramirez, a 17-year-old who lived at the home. According to prosecutors, Morris-Kerin and her husband, who goes by “Larry,” did not take Ramirez to a hospital for treatment even though she was vomiting blood.
The murder charge against Morris-Kerin was dismissed by a judge in 2022, but after “further investigation was conducted, and new evidence was obtained,” a grand jury issued a new indictment that reinstated it.
Morris-Kern’s bail was set at $50,000 and Kerin’s at $35,000, and though they were released on their own recognizance, they must return by next Friday to pay those bail amounts.
They’re due back in court on Jan. 26.