Charlotte Marie Wetzel

A 17-month-old girl being looked after at a Monroe day-care center was killed by a blow to her midsection, and police expected to make an arrest as early as today.

Monroe police Cmdr. Steve Seibert said they were focused on one person but declined to identify him or her.

Seibert did say the woman who owns the licensed center with her husband and who runs it out of their home was the only adult present when Charlotte Wetzel stopped breathing about 12:25 p.m. Wednesday.

The girl was taken to Valley General Hospital in Monroe, then airlifted to Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle, where she died that afternoon.

Hospital personnel and detectives noted suspicious marks and bruises on Charlotte's body. The King County Medical Examiner's Office last weekend determined the girl was hit hard enough in the abdomen to cause heavy bleeding.

"The force of the blow would have to be tremendous," Seibert said.

MONROE - A young couple whose only child died in an apparent homicide-by-abuse case at a day-care center here has vowed to fight child abuse.

Margot and Milynn Wetzel, still in shock from the death of their 17-old-month daughter last week, said they will take action to raise awareness - perhaps by sponsoring a silent walk in honor of their child this weekend.

"I'm going to use my anger to save other children," said Margot Wetzel. "If I could save just one child, that would ease my pain."

Her injuries included extensive bruising, cuts to her lip and mouth and internal bleeding. The King County Medical Examiner's Office determined she died from a heavy blow to the abdomen.

The abuse began gradually, prosecutors allege.

A slap here, a backhanded hit there. Sometimes the woman would stuff the child's blanket in her mouth to stop her from crying, they say. Eventually, she got in the habit of kicking the toddler in the stomach.

Robin Johnson, 32, was charged yesterday in Snohomish County Superior Court with homicide by abuse in the death of 16-month-old Charlotte Wetzel.

On the day the child died, prosecutors say, Johnson put Charlotte in a highchair around 11:30 a.m. and cinched the chair's belt tight because she was squirming. Johnson allegedly kicked the child several times, causing her to vomit.

Johnson picked the child up by her feet, threw her on her sleeping mat on the floor, and stomped and kicked her in the stomach, according to the charges.

EVERETT - Now that a Monroe woman has pleaded guilty to killing a 16-month-old girl under her care, her attorney will fight for a lower-than-usual prison term, arguing the crime was not intentional.

Robin Johnson told a Snohomish County judge yesterday she was guilty of homicide by abuse in the June 3 death of Charlotte Wetzel.

Speaking in a quiet but composed voice, she acknowledged to the judge that on June 3 she kicked the child in the stomach with her heel and stomped once on her stomach.

She abused Charlotte about five times in the preceding several months, pulling her hair, hitting her and kicking her in the ribs - causing her to vomit, she said.

EVERETT - If everything had gone the way it was supposed to, Charlotte Wetzel would be turning 2 years old early next month.

But instead of birthday presents and gleeful celebration, Jan. 7 will be a day filled with intense sorrow, the child's mother told a Snohomish County judge yesterday.

"I will have to go to (visit) her grave," Margot Wetzel told Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer. "It will be one of the hardest days of my life. . . . I had so many dreams and hopes for my child. Now they are gone forever."

The judge sentenced Johnson to 20 years in prison. The homicide by abuse law was sparked by the death of Eli Creekmore, 3, of Everett, who was kicked to death by his father in 1986.