Baby dead, another hospitalized with head injuries, other kids found with 'insects crawling out of their ears'
01/14/2020 11:18 am PST
via KSTU:
PHOENIX (KNXV) -- One child died and four children were removed from a Phoenix residence after some of the children were found with insects crawling out of their ears, according to police.
Phoenix Police responded to a home for an unresponsive child on January 7. Phoenix Fire Department paramedics pronounced the 1-month-old boy dead at the scene around 11 p.m.
While police were there, the other 1-month-old child began to have trouble breathing. The child was hospitalized with “traumatic head injuries” and a brain bleed. The child was found to have multiple skull fractures.
Police say there were five children at home at the time: two 1-month-olds, a 1-year-old, 4-year-old, and 6-year-old.
The Department of Child Safety removed the other three children from the home. During their evaluation, the other children were found “to have a lice infestation, covered in dirt, extremely soiled diapers, and insects crawling out of their ears.”
The 4-year-old child later reportedly told investigators that Donald Roy Ferguson, 38, threw the baby who later died, to the ground. An autopsy report did not find any deadly traumatic injuries, but additional medical tests are being done.
The couple has been charged with seven counts of child abuse. According to court records, there have been several prior DCS reports of abuse in the home.
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