Prison for grandmother for 7-year-old’s Christmas Day starvation death on Red Lake Reservation

A 64-year-old woman has received a 15-month term for acts of neglect that led to the Christmas Day death of her 7-year-old granddaughter on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Sharon Marie Rosebear was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court after jurors convicted her in April in connection with the death of Jewel Sky Fineday on Dec. 25, 2022, at the Indian Health Service.

Rosebear’s 15 months in prison will be followed by two years’ supervised release.

“The evidence at trial established [Jewel] died in 2022 from the combined effects of starvation and infection,” read a post-sentencing statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “The medical testimony also established that [Jewel’s] prolonged starvation may have been an independently sufficient cause of death, or may have severely compromised [her] immune system’s ability to fight infection.”

Jewel’s father, Julius Garrett Fineday, 42, pleaded guilty earlier to child neglect. He was sentenced in July to five years in prison and two years of supervised release.

State death records say Jewel died in the Indian Health Service emergency room from malnutrition and a severe infection from lice.

Jewel’s native name was Miikawaddizimikinaakikezens, meaning “Beautiful Turtle Girl,” according to her online obituary. She loved turtles, “especially sea turtles,” the obituary said.

Evidence presented during the trial showed that Jewel “died at the same weight she had been nearly three years earlier,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office read, “and that while Rosebear was aware of [Jewel’s] severe lice infestation, Rosebear responded by keeping [the girl] isolated rather than seeking medical attention.”