On the morning of Aug. 21, 2005, the 26-year-old mother of five lay in the bedroom of her modest Cushing home, exhausted from 13 hours of natural labor. She was surrounded by prayers - and prayers alone - from her husband, Josh; a lay midwife and another woman from the Church of the First Born, a faith that doesn't believe in medical intervention.

Had medical intervention been taken, Kathy Lou's retained placenta would have been removed. The simple procedure likely would have kept the young mother from bleeding to death.

"Imagine her bleeding for over six hours, people surrounding her, no one calling for help, all watching, as the last ounce of life-supporting blood drips from her body and she dies," said Jeanne Shadaram, Kathy Lou's sister. "Kathy was very obedient, naive. She'd be that type, to die pleasing someone, which is what she did, in my opinion."

Capdeville's husband, Josh Capdeville, says his wife refused to go to the hospital, even though he told her God would forgive her for it.

"I love my wife and I didn't want to lose her, but I respected her rights and what she wanted," Josh Capdeville said. "This was her choice. This was her belief. This was her First Amendment right to freedom of religion."

Religions that shun medical care in favor of faith healing comprise less than 1 percent of Oklahoma's religious faiths, said Jeff Hamilton, associate minister of First Christian Church in Oklahoma City and president of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma City.

"It's a very, very small group," Hamilton said. "There is a growing fundamentalist, literalistic movement and there are people who turn faith into magic. In a more secular sense there are those who are turning to alternative medicine. But they don't use those alternatives in a crisis situation."

Life changes

Kathy Lou and Josh Capdeville married in a Baptist church while she was still a junior in high school. Their first two children were born without complications in a Cushing hospital.

Then the Capdevilles' faith took a radical turn. They joined the Church of the First Born, a denomination that shuns the practice of medicine.

Still, Shadaram said her sister occasionally took over-the-counter medicine and gave her children mild analgesics and ointment without her husband knowing it, her sister said. She socialized with her siblings and cared daily for her ailing father, who lived nearby.

The Capdevilles had two more children, both born at home. Then she became pregnant again.

On Aug. 18, three days before Kathy Lou died, Shadaram said she spoke to her sister by phone. They talked of the upcoming birth, and Shadaram said Kathy Lou promised to call her when she went into labor so Shadaram would have time to drive from Elk City to be with her.

Shortly after 10 p.m. on Aug. 20, Kathy's labor pains began. She took to her bed on Vine Street while her husband summoned Kay Pruitt, a lay midwife, and another woman from church.

Though Pruitt calls herself a midwife, Michelle Robidoux of the Oklahoma Midwives Alliance said Pruitt is considered more of a "prayer partner," because she had no formal training or medical skills.

"A midwife to them is someone who just trusts God and sits with the mother, hands off," Robidoux said.

Complications begin

At 5:20 a.m., the exhausted mother gave birth to a healthy girl. Her placenta should have passed from her uterus within a half hour, but it never did. According to Cushing police detective Linda Tucker, those witnessing the birth said she was bleeding profusely.

"They worked with her trying to get the placenta to break loose. They were massaging her stomach and would lightly tug on the umbilical cord that was left, but it never would release," Tucker said.

Soon, the midwife took the husband aside and told him his wife was bleeding 'real bad.' Tucker was told they offered Kathy the option of going to the hospital.

Josh Capdeville said the option was discussed.

"I told her that she needed to think about her mom, her dad, her children. She needed to think about me. She had too much to live for. That God could forgive her, that it is not an unpardonable sin and that I would stand by her choice no matter what," Josh Capdeville said. "She told me she did not want to go to the doctor and then die and go to hell."

About 10:30 a.m., Kathy became incoherent, according to Tucker's police report.

"They rolled her over on her side and she started convulsing. Her husband thought she couldn't breathe. He rolled her back on her back and put a spoon in her mouth to try to hold her tongue down," Tucker said. "And then, she quit breathing."

At least eight church members had been inside the Capdeville home during the ordeal.

Some of them alerted the church, which canceled its Sunday services so the church elders could tend to the death.

Word spread through town and by noon, Kathy Lou's father got the news. He called the police to investigate.

An autopsy revealed that Kathy Lou died of an intrauterine hemorrhage. Payne County District Attorney Rob Hudson considered the case, but found that no crime had been committed.

"As difficult as it may seem, that's what the final ruling was," said Cushing Police Deputy Chief Terry Brannon. "It's a terrible deal. Just terrible."

Shadaram remains convinced that her sister would have survived if her family was there for the birth. She said they would have ensured she got medical care.

"She died, because she had no voice. No one present to speak for her."

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