MEDFORD, Ore. – A man accused of causing the death of a young child under his care in Eagle Point entered a guilty plea.
Investigators said on August 5, 2019, then-25-year-old Russel Brian Darrell Larsen was babysitting his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter, Alivia Rose Allen, at a mobile home park on South Shasta Avenue.
When Alivia’s mother came home from work, she reportedly found the girl unresponsive. The child was taken to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
An autopsy was performed on Alivia on August 7, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said. That’s when medical examiners determined the death occurred from blunt-force trauma. It was ruled a homicide.
On August 15, 2019, Larsen was arrested and lodged in the Jackson County Jail for manslaughter, assault and criminal mistreatment.
Larsen appeared before Judge Lorenzo Mejia on August 16, 2019. During the arraignment, state prosecutors said there wasn’t just one injury that caused Alivia’s death. There were multiple injuries that caused lung contusions and internal bleeding.
Reading a charging document, Judge Mejia said necessary and adequate medical attention for Alivia was withheld by Larsen.
At his first court appearance, a public defender pleaded not guilty on Larsen’s behalf. Bail was set for $1 million at the end of his arraignment.
On August 20, 2019, prosecutors added charges of murder and sodomy in the first degree. The murder charge brings a maximum sentence of life in prison.
On December 16, 2021, Larsen agreed with prosecutors, along with Alivia’s mother and father, to plead guilty to sodomy in the first degree and manslaughter in the first degree. The other charges were dropped.
Larsen was sentenced to 35 years in prison with no possibility of early release.
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