ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 TAG: 9704220088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: HOLLIDAYSBURG, PA.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The teen's grandfather used a Bible remedy and anointed her with oil the first day she was sick.
A teen-ager who shared her mother's distrust of doctors was anointed with oil and prayed over in the days before her death, a police investigator testified Monday in her parents' manslaughter trial.
The morning 16-year-old Shannon Nixon reported feeling run-down and thirsty, Lorie and Dennis Nixon took her straight to the girl's grandfather, the pastor of a faith-healing church, Altoona police Detective Sgt. John Closson testified.
Three days later, Shannon went into a coma and died of a heart attack caused by diabetes.
``Even at the point of coma, this illness was treatable,'' District Attorney William Haberstroh said.
Lorie Nixon, 44, wept quietly in court. Nixon and her husband, who have eight surviving children, are members of the Faith Tabernacle Congregation, a Philadelphia-based Christian sect that advocates healing by prayer instead of medicine.
The pastor, Shannon's grandfather Charles Nixon, used a Bible remedy and anointed his granddaughter with oil the first day she complained of feeling sick, Closson testified.
The Nixons previously pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the 1991 death of their 8-year-old son Clayton, who died of an untreated ear infection.
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB