PAINESVILLE, Ohio — The trial has started for a Lake County mother accused of injuring her infant child in 2024. Tuesday was the first full day of testimony.
The defendant, Megan Bayko, is charged with five counts of endangering children, all fifth-degree felonies.
She was indicted in September 2025, nearly a year after her 6-month-old daughter, Makenna Rae, was brought to UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital. She weighed 12 pounds at admission. Dr Max Wizniter, a child neurologist at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital, testified Tuesday afternoon.
"The ER notes describe her as being limp," Wizniter testified when Makenna Rae arrived at the hospital. "The findings on the neuroimaging had basically made us very suspicious there was some trauma to the brain," he testified.
A pediatric orthopedic surgeon also testified. Dr Katharine Hollnagel was called in on Makenna's case.
"A skeletal survey was obtained, and that's when she was found to have multiple fractures," she testified.
Hollnagel told the jury the injuries had happened weeks or perhaps months before she was brought to the hospital.
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The child's grandmother, Jennifer Kvoriak — who is now the child's full-time caregiver — previously told us her injuries were "significant, devastating and life-long."
Kvoriak said that Makenna had to be intubated for eight days while doctors treated a head wound.
The grandmother said Makenna also had bruising and swelling on her face, broken bones and other internal injuries.
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After being released from the hospital, Makenna required mobility equipment to learn how to walk, a G-tube to eat and ongoing physical and occupational therapy, as well as in-home nursing care.
Bayko could face 25 years behind bars if convicted.
