An Indiana couple is facing serious charges after their toddler died under harrowing circumstances. Authorities allege the young boy suffered from severe malnutrition and resorted to eating non-food items like pieces of diapers and drywall. The couple reportedly delayed calling emergency services for approximately 14 hours after they last saw him alive, as detailed in police and court documents.
The Tell City Police Department has charged Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, with murder and neglect in relation to the tragic death of their 2-year-old son, Erik Reichard. The charges were announced in a police press release following the incident.
Police officers responded to a distress call at approximately 1:20 p.m. on March 31, when Reichard-Hayes contacted 911, stating his wife had discovered their son unresponsive. The parents reported that they had last seen Erik alive the previous night around 11 p.m.
Emergency responders attempted to revive the toddler with CPR upon arrival, but unfortunately, he was pronounced dead at the scene, highlighting the grim situation.
As stated in the probable cause affidavit, a detective noted, “Based on my training and experience, I could tell the child had been deceased for several hours. The child was blue and pale,” underscoring the severity of the conditions reported by PEOPLE.
“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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