Local News

Court dates set in child death case

Preliminary hearings have been set for Oct. 1 in North Central District Court in Minot for Craig Michael Kerzmann, 49, and Sarah Kerzmann, 45, who faces charges of failing to report the corpse of a child and disturbing a human burial site, both Class C felonies.

According to the court affidavit, on Aug. 21, the Minot Police Department was contacted by a neighbor of Craig and Sarah Kerzmann, who resided in a Minot mobile home park. The neighbor stated Sarah Kerzmann admitted while intoxicated that there was a deceased child in her closet. Sarah Kerzmann said she had given birth to triplets while in Wichita Falls, Texas, three years earlier, and when the infant was about six months old, the child died in the care of Craig Kerzmann while she was at work.

The next day, a police officer located Craig Kerzmann's vehicle at a Minot hotel. Craig Kerzmann was arrested and, becoming upset, admitted his deceased child was located in the closet of their home. Sarah Kerzmann also admitted her son was deceased and located in the closet.

Sarah Kerzmann told an officer she had given birth to triplets, two females and a male. When she returned home from work on April 26, 2023, she found her son unresponsive in his jumper. She attempted to give CPR but was unable to resuscitate the child.

She said she attempted to contact local law enforcement but was instructed not to by her husband, who was worried he would go to prison because he was the one home with the child. She said he instructed her to go to the hardware store for materials to take care of it, and she returned with cement and a tote. They encased the deceased body inside the cement within the tote. They then fled Texas, bringing the child's remains to North Dakota with them.

A search warrant for the residence located an open top storage bin filled almost to the top with concrete. The container was transported to the police department, where it was X-rayed and a void found in the center that corroborated statements by the Kerzmanns, the affidavit stated. The couple then was arrested.

Craig Kerzmann also faces an additional charge of domestic violence-serious bodily injury, a Class C felony, as a result of the Aug. 22 investigation and was taken into custody. Sarah Kerzmann was transported to receive medical care.