An educator’s concern about an absent child and his mother’s excuse led police to discover a frightened 9-year-old boy who was shaking, had cuts and scratches all over his face and ligature marks around his neck.
The boy’s face was bruised, blood vessels in his eyes were broken and his eyes partially shut and drooping. He had dried blood and drainage coming from both ears and was laying in the fetal position in the lobby of the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, according to a probable cause affidavit.
He had been brought there with one of his brothers by his mother, their grandfather and a Department of Child Services caseworker for a welfare check after a Franklin school principal alerted deputies that she thought something might be wrong.
The mother, Krystle Nikole Case, 31, of 835 S. Old U.S. 31, lot 19, Franklin, has been charged with two felonies: neglect of a dependent and battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a child less than 14 years old. She was arrested on a warrant this week.
The child’s injuries were discovered in October. When a sheriff’s deputy tried to speak to the boy, he was disoriented, couldn’t speak clearly and cried out asking for food, the affidavit said. He was taken to the hospital immediately. He was unable to walk on his own when he was taken to the hospital, and couldn’t tell doctors about his level of pain due to his mental state, the affidavit said.
Case initially told sheriff’s office investigators that her son had injured himself during two seizures and said he had also injured his younger brother, the affidavit said. She later said that she couldn’t handle his behavior and that he reminded her of his father, who is her ex-husband, the affidavit said. She demonstrated to police how she had intentionally and repeatedly hit her son in the groin, causing swelling, the document said.
She had been mad and lost control when she had hit him repeatedly, then kept him home from school due to his visible injuries, she told the investigator. She said she and her son physically fight, the affidavit said.
The child was moved from Johnson Memorial Hospital to Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health, and a medical report confirmed injuries from trauma and abuse, and multiple untreated injuries and medical issues, the affidavit said.
Case told deputies that she grabbed both boys around the neck with her hand when disciplining them, then wrapped gauze around the older boy’s neck to keep him from picking at his neck, the affidavit said. The gauze was wrapped tightly and could have caused the ligature marks and restricted his breathing, she said during an interview with the investigator.
During the investigation, she repeatedly said she wanted to turn her son over to the state because she couldn’t handle his behavior, according to the court documents.
Case is held at the Johnson County jail on $17,000 bond. A judge has issued a no-contact order that will keep Case from seeing her son if she is released from jail while her criminal case is proceeding.
