Elizabethtown Police are investigating two horrific cases of child abuse. A three-month-old infant is in the hospital, severely malnourished and with several broken bones. The baby boy has a fractured skull, broken ribs, a broken leg, and multiple bruises. Elizabethtown Police Officer Virgil Willoughby adds the infant was malnourished almost to the point of death.
"The photographs show this infant was literally skins and bone, says Willoughby.
The baby actually weighed less than he did at birth. The parents, 18-year-old Alexander Irwin and 19-year-old Jessica Capponi are charged with criminal abuse. Irwin is also charged with assault. He told police the baby fell out of his arms and hit the floor.In another case, an Elizabethtown baby died after police say her father shook her to stop crying. Twenty-one-year-old Barry Williams originally told police he was giving his daughter a bath and she slipped out of his arms.
"Mr. Williams basically stated he had dropped the child. Obviously the attending physician at Kosair identified this as shaken baby syndrome," explains Willoughby.
The six-month-old baby died Wednesday at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville. The assault charge against Williams is expected to be upgraded to a murder charge.