WAUSAU - The mother of an 11-year-old girl who died tells reporters why the family refused to take their daughter to a doctor.

Madeline "Kara" Neumann of rural Wausau died on Sunday from a treatable form of diabetes.

Now, we're learning more about the family's faith and why they chose prayer instead of medicine.

The family doesn't belong to a specific church, but the girl's mother leads a Bible study and contributed to an evangelical Web site that focuses on the apocalypse and faith based healing.

The Web site is America's Last Day.com

The girl's mom, Leilani, wrote poetry and testimonials for the site.

The site's founder wrote that he prayed over the phone with the Neumann’s for the girl just before she died.

Friends of the family made a frantic 911 call.

“Is she breathing? Is she breathing? Is she breathing?"
"No. No, she's not. No she's not breathing."

The girl died inside her parent's home.

Police say she was sick for weeks, but her mother told the Associated Press she was only sick for a few days. She told reporters the family felt their prayers could heal her, saying, “We did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."

“They would feel that if their faith is on the right track, then there wouldn't be any sickness,” Kevin Voss said.

Voss of Concordia University is a bioethics expert.

He says a small percentage of radical Christians do not believe in medical doctors, and instead believe that sickness is caused by a lack of faith.

“They would believe that the real way to seek healing is to take care of the spiritual side over everything else, so they would seek prayer and would study the bible,” Voss said.

Since the Neumann's don't belong to an organized church with strict beliefs and rules, Voss believes there is a better chance her parents could be charged for her death.

Former Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske says a possible criminal charge in the case could be second-degree reckless homicide, which requires proof of "recklessly causing the death of another human being."

But she also says Wisconsin law says a parent cannot be accused of abuse or neglect of a child if in good faith they selected prayer as a basis of treatment for a disease.

Everest Metro Police Chief Dan Vergin says he expects to complete the investigation by Friday and forward the results to the district attorney for review.


(The Associated Press contributed to this report)