Missing 3-year-old is found covered in sores, unable to eat, MN cops say. Mom charged
A Minnesota mother faces charges including torture after deputies said her toddler was found covered in wounds and barely able to walk or eat.
An Amber Alert was issued on March 15 for a 3-year-old boy from Red Lake Tribal Nation, but was canceled shortly after when Todd County Sheriff’s Office deputies found him in the car with his mother, according to the probable cause affidavit and CBS News.
Authorities were alerted to the vehicle when a Todd County citizen recognized it from the Amber Alert and followed it until officers arrived, according to a March 18 news release from the the sheriff’s office.
Officials have not said what led authorities to issue an Amber Alert.
Law enforcement pulled the 35-year-old woman over and saw the child in the backseat.
“Open sores covered roughly 95% of his face,” police said, and it smelled, “as if he had not been washed or changed in a few days.”
Officers noted the child seemed reluctant to walk from pain in his legs, and when he did, “it was in an irregular manner.”
The toddler told caregivers that his face and mouth hurt, according to police.
When given a cheese stick to eat, the child “could hardly chew the piece he bit due to pain,” police said.
A mouth check revealed the boy’s larger teeth, brown and black with rot, also had “gaping holes in the middle,” police said.
Medical professionals noted the 3-year-old was anemic with low potassium levels, records show.
Hospital staff said the boy’s wounds, old and new present throughout his body, were potentially burns from chemicals or a heat source, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The boy was placed in protective custody and his mother also faces felony charges of assault, malicious punishment and neglect, according to deputies.
McClatchy News is not identifying the mother to protect the identity of her son.
An investigation into circumstances surrounding the child’s condition is ongoing, police said.
“Red Lake Reservation is owned and occupied entirely by members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians — the only such reservation in Minnesota,” according to the Red Lake Nation website.
Red Lake Reservation is about a 275-mile drive north from Minneapolis.
This story was originally published March 21, 2024 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Missing 3-year-old is found covered in sores, unable to eat, MN cops say. Mom charged."
