Couple charged with child neglect
Mar. 21—ANDERSON — An Anderson couple charged with child neglect is being detained at the Madison County jail on full cash bonds of $50,000.
Nicolas O. Arnett, 27, and Shelby Langford, 22, 900 block of West Fifth Street were arrested by Anderson police earlier this month.
Both are charged with level one neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injuries to their 10-month-old daughter.
If convicted, they face a possible prison sentence of 20 to 40 years. Arnett said during an initial court hearing that he was hiring an attorney; Langford was provided with a public defender.
Court documents filed by detective Matthew Kopp show that in December, Arnett and Langford took their 10-month-old daughter to Riley Children's Hospital after, they said, she had trouble eating, sitting up and breathing.
At the time the child was in cardiac arrest and in December a court hearing took place to not perform lifesaving measures if the girl couldn't breathe on her own.
Once admitted, Riley staff noticed that the baby had significant bruising on her ears, shoulders, thighs, stomach, face, hips, legs, chin, forehead and armpits. All the bruises, police said, were in different stages of healing.
When detectives began interviewing Arnett about his daughter's injuries, the father said he suspected the child had anemia. Furthermore, Arnett allegedly attempted to blame the bruising on their 3-year-old child, who they said sometimes "plays rough" with the younger sister.
When speaking with Langford, the mother reportedly explained that they had already had a previous child die around 2 years ago from unknown causes. She said that, since the 2021 incident, she has treated her other children "like a porcelain doll" so as not to lose another kid.
Doctors at Riley Children's Hospital believe the injuries sustained by the girl were not accidental in nature and were a result of trauma.
The injuries include three spinal fractures, injuries to the cervical spine, healing fractures of two ribs, possible sternal factures, healing fractures to the feet and severe changes to brain function.
Doctors said the injuries could have been caused by a force straight down to the top of the head, folding the body beyond what the spine would allow or bending the body backwards beyond what the spine would allow.
According to Riley doctors, these injuries caused catastrophic damage to the baby's brain activity. By the time the child had been admitted to the hospital, she had no gag reflex and was unable to cough.
The couple continued to tell investigators different statements on how the injuries might have taken place.
They both said Langford got into a physical altercation with Arnett's sister in October. She told police the child was in a car seat but gave conflicting statements about the incident. Arnett's family members denied the altercation took place.
The probable cause affidavit states that neither Arnett nor Langford visited their daughter very often at the Indianapolis hospital, which was concerning to the staff.
Langford told police that she was a stay-at-home mom until taking a job at Starbucks on Oct. 7, 2023. Investigators determined she has never worked at Starbucks.
Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said Thursday the case is very troubling.
"Some of the conditions these children live in is hard for people to make sense," he said. "People can't imagine how this happens."
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
