Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, were arrested on charges of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and other counts
Credit: Tell City Police Department
NEED TO KNOW
- Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and his wife, Katherine Carter, 31, were arrested on murder and other charges
- An autopsy showed 2-year-old Erik Reichard had pieces of drywall and diapers in his system
- Carter told police Erik, who weighed about 15 lbs. at the time of his death, had been eating his diapers, which a detective suspected was “due to hunger,” per the affidavit
An Indiana toddler who died from severe malnutrition and dehydration had eaten drywall and diapers prior to his death.
Tell City police were called to a home on Guttenberg Lane around 1:19 p.m. on March 31 after receiving a 911 call from Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, about a small child who appeared blue and wasn't breathing, according to probable cause affidavits obtained by PEOPLE. He told a dispatcher that his wife, Katherine Carter, 31, found the 2-year-old boy and brought him downstairs.
When officers arrived, they performed CPR on the toddler — identified as Erik Reichard — on the living room floor, according to the affidavits.
A detective at the scene noticed “poor living conditions that included feces on the floor in the two children’s rooms as well as an abundance of drywall and paint chips, dirt, and pieces of diapers [lying] everywhere as well as insects/bugs in the home,” according to the affidavit against Reichard-Hayes.
Carter and Reichard-Hayes allegedly told authorities the last time they saw the boy alive was the previous night around 11 p.m., according to the affidavit.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
“I could tell based on my training and experience that the child had been deceased for several hours,” the detective wrote. “The child was blue and pale.”
The boy, who was pronounced dead at the scene, was “extremely skinny” and covered with over 40 sores or bug bites.
Carter told police that Erik, who weighed about 15 lbs. at the time of his death, had been eating his diapers, which the detective “suspected the child had been eating his diapers due to hunger,” per the affidavit.
An autopsy showed that his colon contained “foreign material with a gel-like substance and small white pieces. These findings were consistent with the gel found in the diapers worn by [Erik] as well as the material of the diaper itself. Some of the white material removed from the colon was also consistent with the drywall, paint chips, or spackling.”
His cause of death was determined to be severe malnourishment and severe dehydration as a result of neglect, per the affidavit.
Authorities searched the home and allegedly found feces and torn diapers and pieces of drywall or spackling in one of the children's upstairs bedrooms. In another upstairs bedroom, officers found a small child’s bed, pieces of diaper and drywall debris all over the floor and a training toilet full of feces and urine “that appeared … hadn’t been cleaned in days or perhaps weeks,” per the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, the couple’s bedroom had “nice bedding, the bed was made, there was no extreme clutter, and it was clean, unlike the remainder of the home.”
Per the affidavit, the Indiana Department of Child Services removed two other children from the home.
On April 3, Reichard-Hayes and Carter were arrested on charges of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and neglect of a dependent.
Carter has a hearing scheduled on May 14. Reichard-Hayes is expected to appear in court on May 28.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
Read the full article here
