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Xeogaming Forums - General Chat - Baby left in car seat for 8 days, starves to death, parents to be prosecuted | |
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Rogue
If you're reading this... You are the Resistance











Since: 08-17-04

Since last post: 395 days
Last activity: 203 days
Posted on 02-28-08 01:07 PM Link | Quote
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331732,00.html


Parents of Baby Left Alone in Car Seat for 8 Days Face Murder Charges

PEORIA, Ill. ? A central Illinois couple faces first-degree murder charges in the death of their 5-month-old baby, who was found unresponsive in a car seat that had been placed in a crib.

Both Tracey Hermann, 21, and James Sargent, 23, appeared Wednesday in Peoria County Circuit Court in the death of Benjamin Sargent.

The charges state the parents' actions or lack thereof, were "brutal and heinous . . . indicative of wanton cruelty," factors that could mean they face up to 100 years in prison if convicted.

The 5-month-old was dropped off at his parents' house on Feb. 4, strapped into his car seat. Eight days later, he was found in the same position, said Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons during a bond hearing for the parents.

"He died from starvation due to neglect from these two defendants, his parents," Lyons said. "It's the worst case of child neglect we have seen since the turn of this century."

Sargent said virtually nothing, during a 20-minute hearing before Peoria County Circuit Judge Glenn Collier. Hermann told Collier her attorney was in Hawaii so she requested a court-appointed lawyer.

Collier ordered the two held without bond pending a hearing Friday, when it is expected that Lyons will present more evidence as to why the two should not be released pending trial.

Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll said Wednesday the baby weighed 10 pounds when he was found by police. He was nearly eight pounds at birth, she said.

Reading from a prepared statement, Lyons said police found the infant sitting in his own waste, all the while strapped into the seat which was in a crib.

During the eight days the baby was strapped in the seat, both Hermann and Sargent were home, "playing video games, watching TV, feeding and caring for themselves," Lyons said.

Lawyers in the state's attorney's juvenile division have begun proceedings to permanently remove Hermann's 3-year-old daughter from the home. That child was staying with another family member but is now in the care of Department of Family and Children's Services.


For further detail into this case, here's the opening statement from the prosecuting attorney, Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyon:

On February 12, 2008, Peoria Police responded to a call at 3012 W. Proctor Street in Peoria. Found dead and strapped in a car seat that had been placed in a crib was 5-month-old Benjamin Sargent. The defendants are his parents. Benjamin was wearing a blue snow suit. It was zipped up. The temperature in the room was near 80 degrees.Benjamin's eyes were open, his hands were clenched in a fist-like position and, although dead, his eyes were staring straight ahead. Police investigation and medical and pathological examination would reveal that Benjamin had been strapped into this car seat and had not left it in eight days. All waste and urine had collected beneath him and his buttocks, legs and back were eaten into by the resulting poison. Some waste left in benjamin's colon revealed resulted in constipation because it could not be pushed out of his body due to starvation.

James Sargent was present at the house and, when interviewed on that day, and again on February 18, his answers to questions confirmed for police that Benjamin had been returned to the residence on february 4, 2008, by a grandmother and he was in the same car seat, wearing the same snow suit, and confined in the same manner as when he was found dead eight days later. A person who 'stayed' with others in the garage of the defendants told police that he was the one who observed Benjamin in the car seat, and on the living room floor, and that it was he who found this odd and so, he placed the child (while in the car seat) in a baby crib in a bedroom. The house was kept in an outrageous condition with nothing in its place, food left out and spoiled, and belongings scattered everywhere. Clothing, articles, spoilage, and debris were stacked everywhere around the house.

James Sargent told police he "thought" he had maybe moved Benjamin once or twice during the eight-day period but, upon further questioning, he conceded that he may not have been moved at all. The person from the garage tells police that Benjamin was found just as he had left him eight days earlier. The 'mother' was in Iowa, where she had gone to see a male boyfriend she found over the internet. She told police that caring for her baby Benjamin was not her duty and that it was James' responsibility. Before heading to Iowa on the day before Benjamin was found dead, Tracy Hermann said she looked at the baby in the crib and presumed he was sleeping so she said she stuck a bottle between the baby and the side of the carseat so that he woke up he could grab it and feed himself if he was hungry. In case the court missed it earlier, Benjamin Sargent was five months old. Tracy Hermann also has a daughter, almost 3, who Tracy Hermann seems to have 'given away' to a family member.

A shelter care hearing on that matter now pends in the circuit court because I am also seeking to remove her permanently and forever from any contact with Tracy Hermann. Preliminary examination of Benjamin Sargent's body showed that he weighed 10 pounds, suffered from sepsis in the blood and tissue, was without proper liquid and food and that he died from starvation due to neglect by the two defendants who stand before you, Tracey D. Hermann and James E. Sargent.


SOURCE: http://www.pjstar.com/images/stories/Peoria_County_Case_08_CF_200.pdf

I read all this yesterday just before I went to hang out with my friend, Christina, and her 1-year-old, Jayne. Jayne is unofficially my goddaughter (unofficially because the baptism hasn't happened yet). While out having lunch together, I couldn't help but picture Jayne in baby Benjamin's position and it absolutely broke my heart.

Not that Christina would ever mistreat her daughter (seriously Christina talks Jayne down from screaming and has never raised her voice at her or hit/spanked her in any way), but I just couldn't grasp how someone could just do this to their own child. ANY child for that matter.

I'm at a loss.

One thing I definitely am, though, is pissed.

As I read article after article on this, I kept devising worse and worse theoretical punishments for the parents in my head, specifically for the mother.
Ryan

Ptooie
Is back!









Since: 10-01-04
From: Stafford, UK

Since last post: 4405 days
Last activity: 4365 days
Posted on 02-28-08 01:36 PM Link | Quote
How about leaving the parents locked in a small, 10 foot by 10 foot room, where they will eventually go crazy from hunger and one of them will kill the other to eat? Then the surviving one will live a few more days, before dying too of malnutrition.

And the room is slowly filling with a gaseos acid.

And a constant high pitched noise is being played.

And it gets very cold, then suddenly very hot, then cold again, randomly throughout the day.

That is one of the sickest stories I've ever heard... I've suddenly lost my heartless quality. And I've watched a man get decapitated while still alive with very little emotion.
Kyoku kun

Phan Phan
Where in the world in Aurora the Explora? Currently California!








Since: 06-19-06
From: Northern California

Since last post: 4531 days
Last activity: 4158 days
Posted on 02-28-08 03:06 PM Link | Quote
I think I just died on the inside..

I wouldn't feel half as horrible if the person was stuck in a room over the age of 13 years old.. But a baby, unable to do ANYTHING, stuck with limited movement and left without any food until his waste burned his skin and he died of starvation!?

Ugg, I don't want to think about it. Thats just wrong..
Rogue
If you're reading this... You are the Resistance











Since: 08-17-04

Since last post: 395 days
Last activity: 203 days
Posted on 02-28-08 09:11 PM Link | Quote
No reports that I've read have confirmed it, but by looking at their pictures in the media and judging by their actions I could swear baby Benjamin's parents were strung out on methamphetamines.

It's really the only way I can explain such heinous behavior, on their parts, in my head.

Seriously, I kept thinking about these people ignoring a screaming child, one that's crying in agony until he's too weak to cry any longer, and I feel physically ill.
Amudaus

Octoballoon








Since: 07-24-06

Since last post: 5872 days
Last activity: 5862 days
Posted on 02-29-08 01:36 AM Link | Quote
Sounds like something that happened out here a few years ago, a woman got drunk and left here 3yo and 11mo children in the car alone for 5hours in the hot Californian August sun. The 3yo survived but the 11mo died.
Elara

Divine Mamkute
Dark Elf Goddess
Chaos Imp
Penguins Fan

Ms. Invisable








Since: 08-15-04
From: Ferelden

Since last post: 73 days
Last activity: 73 days
Posted on 02-29-08 04:32 AM Link | Quote
I actually started crying after reading that. What the fuck is wrong with those people?!
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