Baby found nearly eaten alive by rats as three parents arrested
A six-year-old boy was found with more than 50 rat bites with some wounds down to the bone.
A six-month-old baby was allegedly left bitten and almost eaten alive by rats in his crib by three parents.
Cops were called to a home in Evansville, Indiana, after David Schonabaum reported finding his young son covered in blood in his bassinet, according to arrest affidavits obtained by WFIE.
The boy had more than 50 bites on his cheek, nose, forehead, toes, foot and thigh, said cops who responded on September 13. His fingers were bitten down to the bone in some parts and his right arm was gnawed from hand to elbow.
His body temperature was 93.5 degrees and he needed a blood transfusion, according to the affidavit.
The baby was rushed to a hospital and then airlifted to another medical facility in Indianapolis.
Schonabaum and his partner Angel also had a three-year-old and a six-year-old residing in the home and said that Angel’s sister, Delaina Thurman, had a two-year-old and five-year-old living there.
Cops found the home covered in rat feces and trash. David told officers that they began having a mice and rat issue in March and that Terminix was called to address it.
Two of the kids told a teacher on September 1 that mice bit their toes while they slept. A state Department of Child Services worker visited the home four days later and Thurman said her child’s toes had likely been scratched by a bed frame, cops said.
Evansville police Sergeant Anna Gray called it one of the worst child neglect cases in decades.
‘It’s really hard to see that,’ Gray told WFIE, ‘And sometimes it’s really hard to maintain composure and be professional.’
A neighbor, Teressa Favors, said the Schonabaums and Thurman ‘have always been cool’ and appeared to take care of the baby. She was shocked to learn of the bites.
‘How does a child get bit over 50 times and no one knows that the child has been bit,’ Favors told the TV station.
All three parents face child neglect charges.
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