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Charges of failing to report the corpse of a child and disturbing a human burial site have been dismissed against a Minot woman who had been arrested after law officers found a deceased body encased in cement in a tote.
Sarah Kerzmann, 45, no longer faces the Class C felony charges in Ward County, but she will be held in the Ward County Jail pending extradition to Texas, which has an arrest warrant for her. North Central District Judge Richard Hagar dismissed the charge in Ward County on Thursday, Sept. 17.
Kerzmann's husband, Craig Kerzmann, faces similar charges for which a court order has been proposed to dismiss. He also has been charged with Class C felony domestic violence resulting in serious bodily injury, and that charge is proposed for dismissal, which would allow for his extradition. Court records show his next court date is a preliminary hearing on Oct. 1.
According to the court affidavit, on Aug. 21, the Minot Police Department was contacted by a neighbor of Craig and Sarah Kerzmann, who reported Sarah Kerzmann had said her deceased child, who had died at about six months, was hidden in her closet.
The next day, a police officer located Craig Kerzmann at a Minot hotel, and he and his wife both admitted their deceased child was located in the closet of their home. Sarah Kerzmann told an officer she had given birth to triplets, two females and a male, while living in Texas. 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.