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An Indiana couple faces serious charges following the death of their malnourished toddler, who investigators say endured appalling living conditions. Authorities allege the child resorted to eating pieces of diapers and drywall before his tragic death. The parents are accused of delaying a 911 call for approximately 14 hours after last seeing the child alive, according to police and court documentation.
The Tell City Police Department revealed in a press release that Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, have been charged with murder and neglect in connection with the death of their 2-year-old son, Erik Reichard.
Law enforcement officers responded to a call around 1:20 p.m. on March 31, made by Reichard-Hayes, reporting that his wife had discovered their son was not breathing. The parents informed the police that their last sighting of him alive was around 11 p.m. the previous night.
Despite efforts by responding officers and medics, who performed CPR on the toddler, Erik was pronounced dead at the scene.
Trevor Reichard-Hayes and Katherine Carter face charges of murder and neglect, as highlighted by the Tell City Police Department.
“I could tell based on my training and experience that the child had been deceased for several hours. The child was blue and pale,” a detective wrote in the probable cause affidavit against his parents, according to PEOPLE.
The boy was “extremely skinny” and covered with dozens of sores or bug bites, the detective added. Erik also weighed just 15 pounds, about half of what a child his age should be weigh.
Carter told police that Erik had been eating his diapers, and the detective “suspected the child had been eating his diapers due to hunger,” the affidavit reads.
Investigators found that the home, which also housed two other children, was in horrible condition. The other children were removed from the home, including one who was hospitalized for severe malnutrition and dehydration.
The couple waited more than 14 hours to report that their child was unresponsive. (Tell City Police Department)
The detective said he observed “poor living conditions that included feces on the floor in the two children’s rooms as well as an abundance of drywall and paint chips, dirt, and pieces of diapers [lying] everywhere as well as insects/bugs in the home.”
In one bedroom, officers found a small child’s bed, pieces of diaper and drywall debris all over the floor and a training toilet full of feces and urine “that appeared … hadn’t been cleaned in days or perhaps weeks,” according to the affidavit.
But despite the children’s bedrooms being in deplorable condition, the parents were living in a clean and well-kept bedroom.
The affidavit said the pair’s bedroom had “nice bedding, the bed was made, there was no extreme clutter, and it was clean, unlike the remainder of the home.”
A detective said the child was “extremely skinny” and covered with dozens of sores or bug bites. (Tell City Police Department)
An autopsy showed that the boy’s colon contained “foreign material with a gel-like substance and small white pieces. These findings were consistent with the gel found in the diapers worn by [Erik] as well as the material of the diaper itself. Some of the white material removed from the colon was also consistent with the drywall, paint chips, or spackling,” according to PEOPLE.
Erik’s cause of death was determined to be severe malnourishment and severe dehydration as a result of neglect, according to the affidavit.
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