True Crime with Rachel Shannon
39: They STARVED And TORTURED Infant to Death: "It's Survival of the Fittest"
03 Feb 2025
When Seth Welch called 911 to report that his daughter had died, no one could have expected the disturbing conditions under which she would be found. 10 month old Mary Welch's emaciated body was found in a filthy crib, covered in urine and feces. From there, investigators uncovered this family's disturbing secrets: they refused to feed or care for their daughter because they believed that God chooses who lives and dies.
Full Episode
Time and time again, we see these cases that involve parents who never should have been allowed to have children. This case involves a set of parents who had some very dangerous beliefs, which of course they pushed onto their children. Beliefs they would later use as excuses for the horrific treatment one of their children suffered.
And when you hear the details of this case, it will be up to you to determine if these misguided views are what led to this little girl's death, or was it an intentional murder from two parents who simply didn't want their child anymore? With that being said, let's get into today's case. Mary Ann Welsh was born on October 23rd, 2017 in Solon Township, Michigan to Southwesh and Tatiana Fusari.
Tatiana was originally from New York, but she ended up moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan when she was around 20 to reconnect with her mother. The plan was to live with her mother, but her mom actually ended up kicking her out shortly after she moved in, so she was kind of left to her own devices after that.
There, she attended Grand Rapids Community College to study early childhood education and development. Tatiana said that she always had dreams of opening up her own daycare someday, which really spoke to how much she loved children. While studying there, in September of 2011, she met then 20-year-old Seth Welsh.
According to Tatiana, when she first met Seth, he was charming, engaging, and flirtatious. He made her feel good and being that she was new to the area, it was nice to have someone who was interested in her. The two only went on one date before they made the decision to move in together.
Like I said, Tatiana was already down on her luck after her mother kicked her out, so it seems like this may have contributed to her decision to move in with this man so quickly. Sometime after the two moved in together, the two purchased a farm near Cedar Springs where they lived and operated their business, Black Acre Farm Products, selling produce, raw honey, maple syrup, and other items.
Around this time is when Tatiana became pregnant with their first child, a daughter. Then, by March of 2015, Tatiana and Seth got married. Two years after the birth of their daughter, the couple went on to have another child, This time, a son. Then, as I stated, in October of 2017, they had Mary.
During that time, the couple lived their lives taking care of their farm, selling their products, and raising their kids. It seemed like a really great environment for the kids to grow up in. Tatiana made the kids homemade meals, even making their own baby food purees from their produce.
Tatiana was the main caretaker for those kids, although she did continue working while doing so, but anytime she had to leave the home, let's say to go to the farmer's market, the kids went with her. They went with her everywhere. By April of 2018, the family started experiencing financial issues, so Tatiana started working second shift at McDonald's while Seth continued working on the farm.
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