Child neglect case shocks America. In Evansville, Indiana, a six-month-old baby was killed by rats. The boy was bitten more than 50 times during the night.
The case began when father David Schoenbaum, 31, called emergency services on September 13 with what appeared to be severe bite marks on his child. He and his accomplice Angel (28) were booked on several counts including negligence. The child’s aunt, Delania Thurman, 25, was also arrested on similar charges.
The child has been discharged from the hospital and placed in the care of a foster family. What the little boy had to endure was simply horrible. Police found him lying in a pool of blood, with more than 50 bite marks on his face and head.
Police in shock
“On five fingers of his right hand, the top skin was missing and the fingertip bones were visible,” according to Inspector Jonathan Helm’s report. The child was partially hypothermic and suffered from a lack of oxygen in his blood. He lost so much blood that he needed an emergency blood transfusion at the hospital. Some fingers had to be amputated.
Evansville Police Sergeant Anna Gray said this was the worst case of child neglect she had ever seen. “It was really hard to watch, and sometimes it’s really hard to be strong and professional,” she says.
Not the first
The child’s parents have two other children, and the aunt who takes them also has two children. Their house was full of rubbish, garbage and rat droppings. The child’s father said that the insects have been destroying their lives since March and that special services have been treating them at home.
But investigation revealed that this is not the first time that rodents have bitten children. On September 1, two other children had already reported to their teacher that they were bitten by rats while they were sleeping. When child protective services workers visited the family’s home on Sept. 9, the mother denied that her children had been bitten, saying she was dealing with “a normal amount of rodents.”
Parents and aunt arrested
All children in the home were removed from their parents and placed in the care of Child Protective Services. The child’s father has been in jail without bail since Friday, and his wife is also being held on $10,000 (9,370 euros) bail. The aunt was already in custody on Thursday and her bail was set at $2,500 (2,343 euros) on Friday.
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