Hao Dang, 36, who also goes by the name Jennifer Forshey, was originally indicted on a charge of second-degree murder. So was her ex-husband, Chau Dang, a 48-year-old Houston man whose trial is scheduled to start Nov. 12.

As part of her plea agreement, Hao Dang will testify against her ex-husband ­ who is accused of causing the fatal injuries ­ and instead of serving prison time, will receive five years probation. She was charged for failing to get prompt medical treatment for the child.

Their daughter, Melissa, was 3 years old when she died on April 9, 1989. Melissa was Hao Dang's child from a previous relationship.

Hao Dang's attorney, Chris Evans, did not return calls for comment. Chau Dang's attorney, Sam King Jr., would not comment about his client's case.

Deputy prosecutor Glenn Kim, co-counsel in the case, was pleased with the outcome. Child homicides are notoriously difficult to prosecute and are frequently referred to as "a secret crime."

"It is a homicide conviction," Kim said of Hao Dang's plea. "We get a conviction and a taking of responsibility and that is no inconsiderable thing."

The Dang case is the last of three child homicides that went unprosecuted for years, but after being reviewed by a Mainland expert resulted in manslaughter convictions.

"We want to finish it," Kim said. "It's been 14 years. Melissa would have graduated from high school this year. We would like to bring this to closure, as they say."

The Honolulu medical examiner classified Melissa's death as a homicide. During an autopsy, it was determined that the child had suffered from a ruptured bowel caused by "blunt trauma." It led to acute peritonitis, a deadly infection, according to Dr. Alvin Omori, the Honolulu medical examiner at the time.

"It's a fairly slow, painful death," Kim said. "You don't die right away. It takes several hours."

But attorneys in the Honolulu prosecutors' office initially declined to pursue charges because they felt there was "insufficient evidence," Kim said.

Ten years passed before that changed.

"These baby cases are all about opportunity," Kim said. "Very rarely do we have an eyewitness. We very rarely have any direct evidence. And they tend to be time-frame cases."

The only way to convince a jury of foul play is to be able to prove that the accused was alone with the child during the time when fatal injuries occured, Kim said.

In the late '90s, the prosecutors discovered nationally recognized pediatric forensic pathologist Dr. Janice Ophoven, Kim said.

Her expert testimony helped produce manslaughter convictions for the 1994 death of 2-year-old Natasha Faufata and the 1985 death of 22-month-old Kareatha Gray.

After reviewing Melissa's autopsy results, Ophoven gave testimony before a grand jury in November 1999 that helped produce an indictment against Hao and Chau Dang.

Ophoven concluded that the child's injuries occured 24 hours prior to her death and that if she had received medical attention, she would have survived, according to court records.

Those court records offer glimpses of Melissa's short, unhappy life.

In the grand jury testimony, which is included in the court records, Chau Dang is said to have thrown the child into a car seat at least twice. The child did not want to be around her stepfather.

Melissa was living mostly with her maternal grandmother in Palolo, who had legal guardianship of the child. But the night before she died, a healthy Melissa was picked up about 6 p.m. and taken to her parents' Honolulu home, according to the records.

The next morning, Hao Dang called her sister, Anna Gonsowski, according to testimony Gonsowski gave to the grand jury.

Melissa was lying motionless on the kitchen floor, eyes wide open. Gonsowski described Hao Dang as "hysterical." Gonsowski told her to call an ambulance.

Hao Dang told her sister that Melissa had somehow injured her leg and hand earlier that morning. She said the child could only crawl and complained that her stomach hurt.

Melissa died about an hour later at Straub Clinic & Hospital.

Police interviewed Hao and Chau Dang that day and at one point Chau told a detective that he wanted to make "a full confession," the records also show.

He also told the detective that Hao had nothing to do with the crime, according to court records.

Later that day, acting on the advice of a public defender, Chau Dang changed his mind and said nothing more.

As the prosecutors reviewed the case, a copy of the file was given to Cindy Iannce-Spencer, who at the time was a victim-witness counselor.

To this day, the child's story has haunted Iannce-Spencer. Even after she left the prosecutor's office in 1997 to work for the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, the memory of Melissa wouldn't go away.

"When I read this, it felt like her spirit spoke to me," she said.