Bond reduced for former LeClaire home daycare provider charged in infant’s death

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - A judge on Tuesday reduced the $1 million cash-only bond for a former LeClaire home daycare provider charged in the death of an infant in February 2020.

During a short virtual hearing in Scott County District Court, Judge John Telleen granted a request to reduce the bond for Angela Regina Marxen, 56, to $500,000.

She must post 10%, or $50,000, to be released from the Scott County Jail. She remained in the jail as of 4:15 p.m.

Marxen is charged with first-degree murder, child endangerment resulting in death, and child endangerment.

Court records show she filed a written plea of not guilty to the charges. A formal arraignment is scheduled for May 13.

Her attorney, Steve Hanna, argued during Tuesday’s hearing that Marxen is a lifelong resident of the Quad Cities and “she’s really not a threat to the community at all.”

Hanna said Marxen is no longer a daycare provider and was working at a hotel at the time she was charged. He added that she has cooperated with police “from the very beginning.”

Assistant Scott County Attorney Gil Carnegie asked for the bond to remain the same and said the fact that she could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted raises a substantial potential flight risk.

“Frankly, I don’t see that there is a flight risk here, in spite of the severity of the charges as to protecting the community,” Telleen said. “Again, this is an extraordinarily serious case. But she’s no longer providing care for children. She has been cooperative with authorities and with counsel.

“I don’t see an ongoing risk to the community If the defendant was released on a reasonable bond.”

The judge also noted her ties to the community and a lack of “significant” prior criminal history.

Around 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 5, 2020, LeClaire police were dispatched to an in-home daycare on Frontier Court for an infant in distress.

First responders discovered a 5-month-old girl who appeared to be unresponsive with labored breathing, police said in a media release. She was transported to a local hospital, where her condition continued to worsen.

According to the release, the baby was then airlifted to Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City, where doctors discovered that she had a fractured skull and a brain bleed.

She died four days later at University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. An autopsy determined the cause of the baby’s death was from blunt force injuries of the head.

Marxen ran the daycare and was the caretaker for the baby.

According to an arrest affidavit, she said she dropped the baby while she was carrying her and that 911 was not notified until four hours after the fall and 45 minutes after Marxen admitted she knew the child wasn’t acting correctly.

Medical professionals stated the injuries were not the result of an accidental fall, according to the affidavit.

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