Infant 'covered in blood' and almost eaten alive by rats suffered 'near fatal event'
Three adults were arrested in Indiana because an infant in their care suffered a "near fatal event" after he was almost eaten alive by rats inside of their home.
lawandcrime.com
A man and two women in Indiana were arrested after a 6-month-old baby in their care nearly died from being eaten alive by rats, suffering dozens of bites from the rodents, many of which went all the way down to the bone.
The infant boy’s parents, David Anthony Schonabaum and Angel Schonabaum, as well as his aunt, Delaina Thurmon, were taken into custody last week and charged with a spate of felonies in connection with what happened to the child, court records show.
Officers with the Evansville Police Department on Sept. 13 responded to a call about a baby requiring emergency medical attention at a residence located in the 1600 block of S. Linwood Avenue. The caller — later identified as David Schonabaum — told the dispatcher that he awoke to find his infant son “covered in blood” and said the boy’s fingers appeared to have been “chewed off.”
In hospital records provided to police, doctors described the baby as suffering a “near fatal event” and required a blood transfusion after almost going into shock.
Doctors said the baby suffered more than 50 bites to his forehead, cheek, and nose alone. The boy was missing flesh from all four fingers and thumb on his right hand, exposing bone on all five fingertips. Most severe were the index and pinky fingers, which police said were “missing the flesh halfway down each finger.” The chid also suffered additional bites to his arms, legs, feet, and toes. His internal body temperature was about 93.5 and his blood pressure was 50/30 when he arrived at the hospital.
“From what the doctors and nurses told the detectives, very near to death,” EPD Sergeant Anna Gray told Evansville, Indiana ABC affiliate WEHT when asked how serious the boy’s condition was. “The child had lost so much blood that the child actually had to have blood transfusions as well. Several fingers had to be amputated.”
