Starved toddler died of neglect after eating diapers, drywall in filthy room, as parents’ room was kept clean

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.

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“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.”

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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.