By Bre McAdam

Sask. foster mom dies nearly a year after child death acquittal

Jan 24, 2014 | 5:09 PM

She died just as she was getting ready to move on with her life.

Eunice Wudrich was found unresponsive in her vehicle last month after veering off the road on her way home to her farm just outside Saskatoon.

The former foster mother was acquitted almost a year ago of criminal negligence causing the death of her foster child Evander Lee Daniels. The 22-month-old boy drowned in the bathtub on June 8, 2010.

“I will maybe contact you guys in a week or two when I've had a chance to actually process this. Just thank goodness,” Eunice told reporters on the steps of Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench after Justice Neil Gabrielson handed down his verdict on Feb. 1, 2013.

She never got to publicly share her thoughts or feelings after the trial. Now, her husband is speaking on her behalf.

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The ordeal took a huge toll on Eunice's health, said husband Dennis Wudrich.

“Emotionally, physically, mentally, she was just devastated,” he said.

Even though the coroner has yet to confirm the cause of Eunice's death, Wudrich believes she likely suffered a heart attack. He also thinks the stress of the trial may have been a contributing factor.

“In my eyes, she probably aged, like physically, 20 years or so. Mentally, she was always worried,” he said.

Eunice became a foster mother because she wasn't able to have her own children, Wudrich said. During the trial, it was revealed the foster home was only approved for three children, but Social Services placed five children in the Wudrich's care. Even though Eunice qualified for an in-home support worker, the trial heard that one was never found.

The foster children were removed from the Wudrich's home shortly after Evander's death.

“Kids were her life, and to have that taken away from her, that was another thing that bothered her,” Wudrich said.

He said Eunice did not foster any other children after she was acquitted, and he’s unsure if they would have been able to continue fostering even if they wanted.

But the family still wasn't off the hook. The Crown launched an appeal shortly after the decision; according to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal it was dropped in November, but Wudrich said the couple learned about it through the media because they were never contacted by the Crown.

“It took probably three weeks for it to sink in to Eunice. Just about every day she would ask me 'is it really over?' and I would say 'yes, I think it is,'” Wudrich said.

He said his family was finally ready to move on with their life. The couple was even preparing to take their adopted daughter to Disney Land right before Eunice died.

Now, Wudrich is forced to move on without his wife.

“We're just going one day at a time right now,” he said.

He hopes people will remember Eunice as a kind, caring woman who genuinely loved children despite the tragedy of Evander’s death.

“After we couldn't foster, just so that she could feel like she could help people, she started doing cleaning for older people that couldn't do their house cleaning themselves,” Wudrich said.

“I told her ‘the amount you’re charging, you’re basically not even paying for the gas to go in,’ but she said 'I want to do it.' That's the way she was, she just liked trying to help people.”

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