A Marion County judge handed down the maximum possible punishment today, sentencing 43-year-old Melissa Waiman Schroer to 30 years in state prison for the 2019 death of her two-month-old son, Wailan Roy Schroer. This final ruling by Judge Barbara Kissner follows a May trial where a jury found Melissa Schroer guilty of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
The state pursued the strictest penalty available under the law due to the severe impact on the family. “Here we have a case where one young child senselessly dies, and two other children are forever impacted by their sibling’s death,” said state Chief Walter Forgie of the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office. “Give this and other contributing circumstances, our Assistant State Attorneys asked for the maximum sentence possible for Schroer and were successful in obtaining the just sentence.”
The criminal case dates back to December 11, 2019, when local law enforcement officers were called to the Villages Hospital regarding a deceased infant. Medical staff pronounced the two-month-old boy dead immediately upon arrival. Officers learned the child had been driven to the emergency room from an Ocala home located off Southeast 36th Avenue after being found unresponsive.
When Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputies initially inspected the residence, Melissa Schroer told them she had put the baby down to sleep and took a nap herself. She stated that she woke up when another child in the home told her the baby was not breathing. According to her initial statement, she alerted her husband, Jeffery Schroer, who immediately put the infant in a vehicle and drove him to the hospital.
Major Crimes detectives uncovered discrepancies early in the investigation when they interviewed the parents separately, noting that the husband and wife gave varying accounts of the timeline and events. On February 5, 2020, the Medical Examiner’s Office finalized its autopsy report. The medical examiner determined that the baby died from methamphetamine toxicity, with dehydration and inanition—severe exhaustion from a lack of food and nutrients—listed as contributing factors. The death was officially ruled a homicide.
Following a lengthy investigation into the autopsy findings, detectives established probable cause to arrest both parents. However, when local authorities attempted to locate the couple, they discovered that the two had fled the state of Florida.
Investigators eventually tracked the couple down to Florence, Kentucky, where they had been living under the radar. On December 10, 2021, deputies with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office apprehended both individuals. They were subsequently extradited back to Marion County to face trial.
While Melissa Schroer’s case concluded with today’s maximum sentencing, her husband, Jeffery Schroer, faces the exact same charges. His prosecution is currently pending in the court system. Assistant State Attorneys Marissa Meyer and Katrina Self successfully handled the prosecution for the state.
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