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Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of child abuse. Please take care while reading.
An Ohio mother was arrested for child endangerment on Friday, Jan. 10, after she allegedly failed to take her 9-month-old son to the hospital when a medical center told her to do so that same day. The toddler had several broken bones and other serious injuries.
According to the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, Kayla Siearra Williams, 30, from New Boston, OH took her son to the medical center early Friday and was instructed to take him to the hospital right away to treat his black eye, multiple broken bones, and other “unexplained injuries,” but she never did. What caused those injuries has not so far been reported, but the injuries happened between four and 10 days earlier, the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office said.
WOWKTV says child services contacted the police when the boy never arrived at the hospital, and law enforcement arrived at Williams’ house later that day to take the boy by ambulance to get help. Reports say two other children were removed from Williams’ house.
Williams was arrested at her home that same night and charged with several counts of child endangerment, including several felonies. Williams is currently held on a $350,000 bond, and is expected to appear in court on Jan. 13.
An investigation into what may have caused the boy’s injuries is ongoing, police said. The infant’s current status and the identity of the boy’s father have not been reported.
Two child abuse cases involving broken bones have emerged this year
The Williams’ child endangerment situation is the second shocking case involving children with broken bones in recent weeks. A few weeks earlier, 26-year-old Erin Strotman, a former New Jersey nurse, was arrested after several premature infants suffered broken bones at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where Strotman once worked. Strotman has so far only been charged with breaking the bones of one infant, but what caused the other broken bones children suffered at Strotman’s NICU is still under investigation.
According to court documents, Strotman was seen on surveillance video “placing her weight down on the legs [of the boy]. Ms. Strotman was observed then taking both legs and pushing them backwards to where [the infant’s] feet were at his head.”
The documents added, “Ms. Strotman was then observed moving the left leg back and forth, to which it is observed the leg to not be consistent with a non-fractured leg of a juvenile at that again and condition. Ms. Strotman then moved the right leg, and it was observed the right leg did not move freely back and forth as the left leg,” the complaint said.
Back in Ohio, Williams’ mugshot seems to show her smiling, and whatever happened in the boy’s home, it can’t be good. It seems likely more will emerge about this shocking and sad story. Referring to Williams’ mugshot, a social media comment said, “And she has the audacity to smile! I hope someone hears of her charges and knocks that smirk right off her face!”
Williams has not yet entered a plea, and it’s unclear if she has legal representation or was involved in her son’s abuse beyond neglecting to get him medical care when she was told to do so. We’ll update the story when that information becomes available.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or if you believe someone you know is being abused, contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE or spoken with online via the hotline’s website. Mobile phone owners can also text “START” to the number 88788