A poster of the Ten Commandments stands behind the mailbox outside the Harford County home of Samuel and Donna Merryman, and a hand-painted sign on the front of the house reads, "Pray and Trust in God."
The couple -- both Sunday school teachers -- are on home detention, freed from jail Monday on $50,000 property bonds after being charged with manslaughter, first-degree child abuse resulting in death, and reckless endangerment.
An autopsy report says their adopted 8-year-old Russian-born son, the youngest of seven children they were raising and home-schooling, died in January of starvation -- a finding disputed yesterday by Samuel Merryman's mother, who called the charges "totally false" and maintained that young Dennis Merryman's death was the result of one of his many ailments.
"I was here every day. I saw him eating, I know he was fed," said Olivia Merryman, grandmother of Dennis Merryman and the six other children. "He had cystic fibrosis, digestive problems, and he may have had other problems."
Family members said Dennis, who was adopted with his older brother and two older sisters from an orphanage in Prem, Russia, in 2000, died in January after playing outside in the snow.
"He came in, laid down and never got up," said George Merryman, Samuel Merryman's father.
At his death, Dennis weighed 37 pounds -- 2 pounds less than when he was examined by doctors in October 2000, according to charging documents. He was 3 feet, 5 1/2 inches tall.
"The child was very skinny and he appeared to be very frail" when medics arrived at the family's home Jan. 22, said Lt. James Eyler, a spokesman for the county sheriff's office. But he said there was no sign of physical abuse.
The autopsy, which he said was completed July 27, identified no underlying condition that could have caused the boy's death, according to charging documents.
The couple's other six children -- also including two of their own, and the oldest, a 14-year-old daughter from Donna Merryman's previous marriage -- are in the care of the county Department of Social Services, according to the Merrymans' attorney, Carl R. Schlaich.
Eyler said the couple were arrested on the Harford County District Court parking lot, after the sheriff's office learned they would be there for an arranged meeting with their children.
"Police arrested them in front of the children," Olivia Merryman said last night.
