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Starving toddler ate diapers and drywall before dying in filthy room while parents lived clean, police say

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An Indiana couple was arrested after their malnourished toddler died in
deplorable living conditions, with investigators alleging the child had
eaten pieces of diapers and drywall before his death and that the
parents waited roughly 14 hours after last seeing him alive to call 911,
according to police and court records. 

Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, are facing murder
and neglect charges in connection with the death of 2-year-old Erik
Reichard, the Tell City Police Department said in a press release. 

Officers found the child dead at around 1:20 p.m. on March 31 after
Reichard-Hayes called 911 to report that his wife found their son not
breathing. The couple reportedly told police that the last time they saw
their son alive was around 11 p.m. the day before. 

Responding officers and medics who arrived a short time later performed
CPR on the 2-year-old, but the child was pronounced dead at the scene. 

"I could tell based on my training and experience that the child had
been deceased for several hours. The child was blue and pale," a
detective wrote in the probable cause affidavit against his parents,
according to PEOPLE. 

The boy was "extremely skinny" and covered with dozens of sores or bug
bites, the detective added. Erik also weighed just 15 pounds, about half
of what a child his age should be weigh. 

Carter told police that Erik had been eating his diapers, and the
detective "suspected the child had been eating his diapers due to
hunger," the affidavit reads. 

Investigators found that the home, which also housed two other children,
was in horrible condition. The other children were removed from the
home, including one who was hospitalized for severe malnutrition and
dehydration. 

The detective said he observed "poor living conditions that included
feces on the floor in the two children’s rooms as well as an abundance
of drywall and paint chips, dirt, and pieces of diapers [lying]
everywhere as well as insects/bugs in the home." 

In one bedroom, officers found a small child's bed, pieces of diaper and
drywall debris all over the floor and a training toilet full of feces
and urine "that appeared ... hadn’t been cleaned in days or perhaps
weeks," according to the affidavit. 

But despite the children's bedrooms being in deplorable condition, the
parents were living in a clean and well-kept bedroom. 

The affidavit said the pair's bedroom had "nice bedding, the bed was
made, there was no extreme clutter, and it was clean, unlike the
remainder of the home." 

An autopsy showed that the boy's colon contained "foreign material with
a gel-like substance and small white pieces. These findings were
consistent with the gel found in the diapers worn by [Erik] as well as
the material of the diaper itself. Some of the white material removed
from the colon was also consistent with the drywall, paint chips, or
spackling," according to PEOPLE. 

Erik's cause of death was determined to be severe malnourishment and
severe dehydration as a result of neglect, according to the affidavit. 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/starved-toddler-died-neglect-after-eating-diap
ers-drywall-filthy-room-parents-room-kept-clean 

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Starving toddler ate diapers and drywall before dying in filthy room while parents lived clean, police say bubba <bubba@ky.com> - 2026-05-12 02:57 +0200
  Re: Starving toddler ate diapers and drywall before dying in filthy room while parents lived clean, police say c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> - 2026-05-12 00:17 -0400

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