DaytonDailyNews.com

NEW LEBANON — An emotional Kimberly Cook-Terrill appeared via video in front of Montgomery County Court Judge James Manning on Thursday, Aug. 7, and asked that her bond be "set low."

Cook-Terrill, 22, faces four felony charges, including murder and child abuse in the death of her 3-year-old half-sister, Hope Cook, on July 20.

Manning set her bond at $300,000 and said if she is released she must remain on electronic home detention.

Two of the felony counts Cook-Terrill faces stem from the excessive corporal punishment and "cruel manner" of restraint that endangered the life of a relative who also was living in the home.

Those incidents allegedly occurred between September and July, Manning said.

The hearing lasted less than five minutes. Cook-Terrill's voice was shaky and cracking as she appeared via closed-circuit television from the Montgomery County Jail.

She did not enter a plea, but said she has retained an attorney.

Cook-Terrill turned herself in to Trotwood police on about 2:05 p.m. Wednesday more than a week after detectives said they wanted to talk with her about Hope's death.

When asked Thursday by Manning if she had any family in the area, Cook-Terrill became emotional and said her foster parents and in-laws live nearby.

Jodi Fryman of New Paris, who has been Cook-Terrill's foster mother since she was 15, believes Cook-Terrill is innocent.

"She loved (Hope) as her own," she said, breaking down Thursday as she talked about how much Cook-Terrill loved her half-sister. And she believes Preble County Children Services made the right decision in giving Cook-Terrill custody of the child.

"What better way to be raised than by someone who loves you and cares about you and understands the family you come from?" Fryman said.

Fryman said Cook-Terrill and her husband, Chad Terrill, worked for several months to gain custody of Hope and her 6-year-old brother Dexter.

Fryman said she and Todd Fryman, along with Chad's parents, helped the couple build a room onto their trailer at the Voyager Mobile Home Park, off U.S. 35, in Trotwood so Hope would have a bedroom — something required by Preble County Children Services.

"She did not want her in the foster care system," Fryman said.

Fryman said Hope suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, which caused Hope to "throw fits — knock-down, drag-out fits over silly things like juice boxes."

Police say Hope died July 20 of head injuries. Fryman said she believes what Cook-Terrill told her happened that day — that she was trying to give Hope a bath, the child got upset, threw a tantrum on the floor and then in the bathtub. Cook-Terrill told Fryman she turned her back to adjust the water and when she turned back, it appeared Hope was in a seizure. She scooped her up and took her to the living room floor, then had a neighbor call 911.

That neighbor, Mildred Combs, 71, said Hope was lying motionless on the floor.

"It's just a shock to everybody," Combs said as she helped her 9-year-old granddaughter do stenciling Thursday.

Combs described Cook-Terrill as a good neighbor, always quick to wave and who appeared to take good care of the children.

"I don't know what happened. They can't tell me she didn't love (Hope)," Combs said, recalling how Cook-Terrill came over the first day Hope arrived to introduce the child. Cook-Terrill said although Hope was her sister, she was going to be her mom.

"She called herself Mom to her," Combs said.

Neighbor Curtis Aldridge, 48, said he has known Cook-Terrill and Chad Terrill for more than two years.

He said Hope called him "Neighbor" and would run over when he would arrive home to greet him.

Aldridge said Hope and Dexter would sit on Cook-Terrill's lap and would hug and kiss her. He never heard Cook-Terrill yell at them. But he is now bothered by a couple of incidents he said occurred before Hope died.

About two months before her death, Aldridge said he noticed Hope had a black eye. When he asked her about it, Hope told him, "I know. I fell in the bathtub."

He didn't think anything of it at the time, he said.

Then on July 11, Cook-Terrill told him that Hope, two weeks earlier, had held a bite of food in her mouth for 1½ hours, refusing to swallow. Aldridge said Cook-Terrill told him she disciplined the child by giving her a cold shower and getting in with her until she swallowed the food.

During that July 11 talk, Aldridge said Cook-Terrill noted that the day before, on July 10, the child again wouldn't eat.

Cook-Terrill asked the girl if she wanted another cold shower. Hope said no and swallowed her food, Aldridge recalled.

He didn't report either incident to police although "it didn't seem right," he said. "I thought it was a little extreme."

Aldridge said he loved Hope and called her "a breath of heaven."

He said he would be "very, very surprised" if Cook-Terrill did cause Hope's death, "but I hope the truth comes out and Hope gets justice."