GUILTY OH - Austin Cooper, 4, scalded to death, Franklin, 15 March 2016 *Arrests*

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birdsmomma said:
I just do not understand how you take a child and hurt them. How do you feel water, know that it's hot and then put a child in it? I will never understand people like this.

From what I've seen, the father and step mother have been married since 2014 so it seems this woman has been with Austin the majority of his short little life.

I do wonder, and maybe it has been said and I missed it. Did dad have primary custody?
Click to expand...

Yes, father had custody. Biological mother didn't have custody because of "some trouble" she has gotten into (according to her).

http://www.wlwt.com/news/Franklin-s...n-connection-with-4-year-old-s-death/38587304
 
jjenny said:
I think he already stopped crying by the time father got home. She told father not to check on the child to not wake the child up.
She says she kept the child's leg in hot water for 25 minutes. Child cried for 2-3 hours after that, she didn't check on him. Father came home later.

"According to a police detective, 25-year-old Anna Ritchie held Austin Cooper’s legs under the water for 25 minutes before pulling him out."

http://www.fox19.com/story/31569042...m-left-child-in-scalding-water-for-25-minutes
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Oh my gosh.
What a way to die!
This boy suffered so much...

25 minutes in BOILING hot water? That boy must have been screaming. And all because he didn't like having baths? Geez...

My 2-year-old goes through stages of hating the bath/shower so instead of punishing her I make it fun - I let her take some things from the kitchen into the bath like mixing bowls and cups, or we get bath crayons or put glow sticks in and turn off the lights, or she takes her baby born into the shower to wash. Why on earth do you need to punish a 4-year-old for not liking his bath? Maybe she made it too damn hot!

My kids are allowed to dislike something just as adults are, there's no need to punish them for it. Especially not by doing something so damn crazy like forcing them to spend 25 minutes in boiling hot water!

Honestly before this I never even knew it was possible to kill someone by placing them in boiling hot water.

So terribly sad :(

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I still don't understand the dad not checking on his own son. This story is so heart breaking. I cannot imagine what goes through ones head as they deliberately hurt a child.
 
Detectives seize medication, towels, more from home where officials say boy was fatally scalded
Bath towels, pajamas, a drain trap and wash rags were among the items detectives seized from the home where officials allege Anna Ritchie held her stepson in a bathtub of scalding water, burning him so severely skin fell away from his legs.

(...)

Police began building their case against Ritchie just hours after Austin's father found him dead in their Franklin, Ohio home at about 9:30 a.m. March 16, WCPO media partner the Journal-News reported.

(...)

Detectives took medication from the home's bathroom, including Claritin, children’s allergy medication, an empty bottle of oxycodone and muscle relaxers. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell told the Journal-News it doesn't appear any pain medication was given to Austin.
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http://www.wcpo.com/news/crime/dete...e-where-officials-say-boy-was-fatally-scalded
 
Everything about this story bothers me. I really think the father should be charged as well, if this is true....and he did NOT check on the child. Who puts a 4 year old to bed at 4:30pm and does not check on them until 9:30am? What child at 4 years old, sleeps for 17 hours straight? The father did not think this was odd?

“During (the) interview with Detective Figliola, Anna Ritchie admitted that she used this cell phone to communicate with the child’s father, Robert Ritchie, that the 4-year-old hand been burnt in the bathtub while in her care.”

http://www.journal-news.com/news/ne...ore-seized-from-home-of-stepmom-accuse/nrCHk/
 
I'm so glad they finally charged the father. It has bothered me all along that he was not charged right away. RIP Austin
 
September 1, 2016


Stepmom of scalded boy who died pleads guilty to murder

[FONT=&amp] An Ohio woman has pleaded guilty to charges including murder and involuntary manslaughter in the bath scalding death of her 4-year-old stepson.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]A Warren County judge on Thursday sentenced 25-year-old Anna Ritchie to 18 years to life in prison after she changed her plea from not guilty.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Ritchie has expressed remorse and says she accepts responsibility.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Ritchie was arrested after the March death of Austin Cooper.


[/FONT]http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/01/stepmom-scalded-boy-who-died-pleads-guilty-to-murder.html
 
September 1, 2015
6:28 PM UPDATED WARNING GRAPHIC

Franklin woman admits guilt in scalding death of 4-year-old stepson

The woman who held her 4-year-old stepson in a bathtub of scalding water before he eventually died of shock has been sentenced to 18 years to life in prison by a Warren County judge.

Prosecutors showed gut-wrenching autopsy photos of the boy and the injuries he suffered just after Anna Ritchie pleaded guilty as charged Thursday in Warren County Common Pleas Court to murder, involuntary manslaughter, child endangering and felonious assault.


Ritchie, 24, held Austin Cooper in a bathtub of scalding water on March 16 until he was burned on about 28 percent of his body. Then she put the boy to bed, where he eventually died of shock.

<SNIP>

Many present in the courtroom could not look at the photos that showed burns to the child’s feet, buttocks, legs and genitalia.


“As bad as these pictures are, probably the most horrifying picture that we have is not terribly graphic,” Fornshell said as the final photo was displayed.


In that photo, Ritchie’s fingernail marks can be seen on the boy’s upper arms, an indication that she held him down as “he fought and screamed to get out of scalding hot water,” Fornshell said.


Ritchie offered an apology before sentencing, saying, “I am deeply sorry for what happened. I know no amount of I’m sorry can bring him back.”

<SNIP>

“Anna Cooper resented Austin Cooper … she could no longer go on as many dates with her husband,” he said.

Bath time, which the young body disliked, became a focus of that resentment and Ritchie purposely held the child in water that she knew was scalding, Fornshell said.

When she saw the child’s skin floating in the tub and his feet bleeding, Ritchie put him in pajamas and socks so that his blood would not stain the bedding, he said.
“He cried in his bed for two to three hours,” Fornshell said.

Neither Ritchie nor her husband, Robert, checked on the child until 16 hours later, but by that time he had died from shock.

Robert Ritchie, 31, is facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and felony child endangering for allegedly failing to obtain medical treatment for his son.


http://www.todayspulse.com/news/news/franklin-woman-admits-to-scalding-death-of-4-year-/nsQMC/



:devil:
090116-Ritchie-02.jpg
Anna Cooper
cooper_1.jpg
:angel2: Austin Cooper
 
18 years? Really? My county has let me down. Wish that was my jury duty summons lol.


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Tssiemer said:
18 years? Really? My county has let me down. Wish that was my jury duty summons lol.


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Click to expand...

Case never went in front of the jury. It was a plea deal.
 
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