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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In a lengthy post on Truth Social this Sunday, Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on Pope Leo, labeling him as “weak” following the pontiff’s recent criticisms regarding the Iran War.

The former president’s remarks came shortly after Pope Leo’s meeting with David Axelrod, a former campaign manager for Barack Obama, a move that Trump also criticized.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump asserted, using the opportunity to voice his disapproval on several other issues concerning the pope.

During a conversation with the press at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday evening, Trump further described Pope Leo as “a very liberal person” and questioned his leadership.

“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He seems to be okay with crime, which is concerning. We don’t support a pope who endorses nuclear weapons or turns a blind eye to crime. I am not a fan of Pope Leo,” Trump stated.

The President went deeper on his opposition to Pope Leo and the church’s stance on several issues in the Truth Social post.  

‘He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,’ Trump WROTE.

The President then referenced Leo’s brother Louis, who has said he’s a supporter of Trump and was feted at the White House last year. 

Donald Trump trashed ‘weak’ Pope Leo in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday after weeks of criticism of the Iran War from the American-born Pontiff

It also comes after Pope Leo met with former Barack Obama campaign manager David Axelrod, which Trump also slammed

‘I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!’

Trump then criticized Pope Leo again for suggesting he wanted Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Denuclearization of Iran is one of Trump’s main reasons for striking Tehran.

‘I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.’

The President then claimed that Pope Leo ‘criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.’

Trump then went on to even suggest that he is the only reason that Pope Leo became the first American leader of the Catholic Church.

‘Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.’

Trump continued to rip Pope Leo for his meeting with Axelrod, who the President called an ‘Obama sympathizer’ and ‘a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested.’ 

‘Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!’ 

It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran. 

Trump then posted what appeared to be a drawing of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick person, followed by a photoshop of what it would look like if Trump Tower were built on the moon.  

The post followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that is fueling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace. 

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire. 

The US-born pope didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name in his prayer. 

But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

It came after the pontiff seemed to use his first Easter Sunday address to send a message to Trump as he urged ‘let those who have weapons lay them down’. 

The pope, who has strongly denounced Trump’s war in Iran, deplored to the thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square that people ‘are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it and becoming indifferent’.

The President referenced Leo’s brother Louis, who has said he’s a supporter of Trump and was feted at the White House last year

Key Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod recently met with Pope Leo

Speaking from the Vatican balcony, the first US-born pope exclaimed: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down!

‘Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force but by dialogue.’

Leo, 70, did not specify a conflict within his message, known as the Urbi et Orbi blessing – translated as ‘to the city and the world’. 

The papal address was unusually short and lasted around 15 minutes. It is normally around double the length in time.

Leo also reflected on the biblical story of Easter – in which Jesus rises from the dead three days after peacefully accepting his death by crucifixion – to highlight the ‘entirely nonviolent’ nature of Christ. 

He added the peace Jesus gives ‘is not merely the silence of weapons’, and urged: ‘On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars.’

Leo is scheduled to leave Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa.