A nurse who was caring for a child that both she and her husband were in talks of adopting now stands accused of the boy’s second-degree murder.
Kellie Jo Anderson, 35, from Barnesville, Minnesota, was arrested and charged by authorities after reporting how she brought in the “blue and lifeless” boy with facial and head bruising to a hospital emergency room in Fargo, North Dakota, on Thursday, according to the Forum News Service and St. Paul Pioneer-Press.
A doctor estimated the boy had been dead for about 40 minutes prior to being brought to the hospital, reports KFGO.
Kellie Jo claimed she had been giving the boy a bath on Wednesday when he “threw himself several times from the bath to the toilet,” according to her statement to a detective, as described in a court document.
The woman claimed the boy may have suffered a seizure in the tub, but husband Kyle James Anderson, informed investigators he did not recount the boy ever experiencing any seizures. The husband was not charged.
The boy’s name and age were not released.
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The couple had been caring for the child for about a year according to court documents, reports KFGO.
Initially, the woman was arrested on a charge of felony neglect which was amended to the murder charge in court Monday in Clay County, North Dakota, according to the Associated Press.
If found guilty, the charge carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
There was no record of an identified attorney for Kellie Jo.
According to court documents, the boy had a cut on the inside of his lip, bruises on his back and side, a bump on the back of his head, multiple marks on his face as well as a cut to his genitals.
Doctors informed officers those injuries were inconsistent with Kellie Jo’s timeline of events. The autopsy cited in the court documents that the child died of asphyxiation associated with blunt-force trauma and the manner of death was given as homicide.
As of Saturday, the couple’s foster care license was suspended.
Kellie Jo is currently being held in the Clay County jail.
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