An Indiana woman and her boyfriend have been charged with inflicted severe injuries on her 3-year-old daughter, who is now fighting for her life in a hospital.
Kami Nelson, 23, told police she believed her toddler daughter’s injuries were caused by her “walking into door handles and similar items” while sleepwalking, the Star Press reports.
Police were called to Nelson’s home on March 25 and found the girl on the floor apparently not breathing. Officers said she was “black and blue and bruised nearly all over her entire naked body and appeared to have been beaten.” The child was rushed to Henry County Hospital and then life-flighted to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, where officials said she was in “critical condition and her injuries were still considered to be life-threatening.”
Doctors there said she had “non-accidental” lacerations to her colon and lower intestine and had internal bleeding.
Another report filed later said the child had “acute” kidney injuries that required dialysis and appeared to have fractures in her nasal cavity and jaw. The doctors said the injuries were consistent with child abuse.
As police interviewed Nelson and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Lee O’Donnell Jr, the couple eventually began to blame each other for the girl’s injuries. O’Donnell said that he had been unable to find employment because he was afraid to leave his own 3-year-old daughter in Nelson’s care. He said he didn’t want to discuss what he’d seen “because I don’t want to end up homeless,” the affidavit said.
Nelson was arrested on March 25, and O’Donnell was arrested on Friday. They have been both charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury and are being held on $191,000 bonds.
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[Featured image: Kami Nelson and Lee O’Donnell Jr/Henry County Sheriff’s Office]
