A four-year-old boy from Wyoming was found emaciated and weighing just 18 pounds after his mother allegedly nearly starved him.
The unnamed boy’s weight was so low it was equivalent to that of an eight-month-old baby, and his health was so poor he suffered brain damage.
The boy’s mother, Tanya Hannon, 24, also known as Tanya Earl, was charged with aggravated child abuse over claims she starved her child.
On Friday, Big Horn District Court upgraded her case to the misdemeanor level. She faces up to 25 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Cowboy stands daily reported.
Tanya Hannon, 24, also known as Tanya Earl, was charged with aggravated child molestation over claims she starved her child. The mother of five is pictured with four of her children
Tanya Hannon pictured with her boyfriend Ty Myers
The depraved mother is depicted holding a baby, her fifth child, as her boyfriend looks on
On February 15, Hannon discovered her son unresponsive and contacted her mother. The mother and daughter took the child to the emergency room at Three Rivers Hospital in Basin, Wyoming, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
Hannon told Greybull police her son tripped over a toy that day.
The boy was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit as his condition was reportedly critical.
According to an affidavit, from the young boy lips and hands were colorless, he was unresponsive to pain, and his eyes were tight and dilated.
He was also unable to clear his own throat, in which food had been retained, and was reported to need to be intubated.
The boy’s mother told the hospital that her son began losing weight about two months earlier, but she did not seek help for him, the court document shows.
The child was near death and had to be life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The treating medical staff gave the boy medications and electrolytes. He was also put on a ventilator because he could not breathe on his own.
Dr. Margaret Russell, a child abuser at Primary Children’s Hospital, spoke to Greybull Police Chief Kenneth Blosser and disputed the Hannon’s claims that her son tripped over a toy.
She told the police chief that the child could not have been active enough before that.
She reported that the youngster suffered from shock, dangerously high sodium levels, extremely low oxygen levels and acute kidney injury.
Russell also noted that his body was also emaciated and that he had ‘decubitus wounds’ on his back, shoulder blades and buttocks, indicating that he was unable to move from a lying position.
She said the child had hair loss, loss of brain volume, fluid buildup in the brain and an electrolyte imbalance that threatened his vital organs, the news source said.
Based on her analysis, she suspected that the little boy was starving, and that this would most likely continue for weeks or months, according to the documents.
When police executed a search warrant at Hannon’s home on February 27, they reportedly found methamphetamine pipes and residue, and a “honking” straw, in the couple’s home.
Kristy Michaels, a caseworker with the Wyoming Department of Family Services, told the police chief that Hannon has four other children, including a newborn.
Hannon told another employee in Salt Lake City that she was a “stay-at-home mom.”
According to Michaels, she reportedly found no medical records for Hannon’s other children.
The police chief, probation officer Bradley Lee and Michaels went to Hannon’s house to investigate and discovered that Hannon shares a house with her boyfriend Ty Myers.
During the search, Hannon’s other children were at their maternal grandparents’ home, where the children remained during the investigation, officials said.
On February 16, child protective authorities in Salt Lake City determined that the child was a victim of serious child abuse, and the police chief was called.
Hannon’s father told the police chief on Feb. 21 that he had not seen his grandson for about a month prior to the incident.
He recalled that the boy looked “kind of Ethiopian,” and said he “felt up a storm” in his house. At the time, he also told his daughter to take the child to the doctor, the news source said.
On February 23, Hannon is said to have disappeared from the hospital.
Four days later, on February 27, when police executed a search warrant at Hannon’s home, they allegedly found methamphetamine pipes and residue, and a “honking” straw.
According to court documents, Hannon was in police custody on March 1.