Michael Baraz, husband of murder defendant Mazna Baraz, had an unequivocal answer Wednesday when asked whether his wife could have inflicted fatal injuries on 15-month-old Gabriella Manzardo at the day-care center in the couple’s Elmhurst home in September 1998.
“I guarantee that she didn’t do it,” said Michael Baraz, whose wife has been charged with first-degree murder in the child’s death. “I would swear on my life. Mazna would jump in front of a freight train before she would harm a baby.”
Mazna Baraz’s lawyer also maintained her innocence Wednesday, and promised to challenge the medical evidence that apparently led to her being arrested and charged this week.
Authorities alleged that forensic evidence showed injuries consistent with Gabriella being shaken and having her head slammed against a solid surface occurred while she was in Baraz’s care.
Baraz’s attorney, Neil Cohen, said that at the appropriate time he will offer to the court testimony from specialists who will interpret the forensic data differently.
“This will be a battle of the experts,” Cohen said. “We’re going to put the state to their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”
He said Baraz is to appear in court Tuesday, and he plans to ask that her $1 million bond be reduced.
The DuPage County state’s attorney’s office has declined to discuss specifics of the case. Elmhurst police officials have expressed confidence in the results of their yearlong investigation.
At 9 a.m. on Sept. 30, 1998, Rob and Laurie Manzardo left their only child, Gabriella, at Baraz’s home day-care center in the 300 block of Shady Lane. Cohen and Michael Baraz described the center as a Montessori school. Police said it was the regular day-care provider for Gabriella.
Five hours later, police said, Baraz called 911 to report that something was wrong with Gabriella. The child died Oct. 3,
1998, and her death was ruled a homicide by blunt trauma to the head.
Investigators quickly narrowed their attention to the Manzardos and Baraz, attempting to determine whether the child was injured before she arrived at the center or while there.
State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett said prosecutors will present evidence that Baraz shook Gabriella, inflicting the brain injury.
But Cohen said he will contend that the child was injured before she arrived in the Shady Lane home.
“We believe the evidence will show that when the baby was left in Mazna’s care, it had a fever, it was lethargic and it wouldn’t walk or respond to stimuli,” he said.
Cohen said Baraz, a native of the Philippines, has cooperated with police, volunteering records and a list of parents of all the children for whom she has cared.
The lawyer said Baraz’s actions the day of the 911 call show that she had nothing to hide.
“There was no covering of one’s tracks, no calls elsewhere first,” he said. “It was an emergency situation.”
It has not been difficult lining up character witnesses to support Baraz, he said.
“She’s gentle, caring and a humanitarian; she was interested only in that child’s welfare,” he said. “Not only can I speak for her character, but a multitude of parents of the children she taught can.”
The only comment the Manzardo family has offered is that they are “relieved” by the charges against Baraz. The couple’s attorney, Jack Donahue, said the Manzardos have been through “a living hell” as onetime suspects in Gabriella’s death.
Cohen said Baraz is “angry that she was charged, and she’s in shock. She doesn’t understand how she could have been charged with something she didn’t do.”
