A Marshall County, Indiana, man is behind bars after authorities claim him to be responsible in the death of a 2-year-old child. WNDU News 6 reports that Shane Weedling originally faced charges of “ neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury .” However, those charges are likely to be upgraded.
Marshall County authorities allege that an incident took place on Friday at a Plymouth motel, which resulted in a child requiring hospitalization for various injuries. Reports have indicated that the child suffered “severe trauma” at the hands of Weedling, who is supposedly in a relationship with the kid’s mother.
WTCA reports that the child was taken to Saint Joseph Medical Center before he was ultimately airlifted to Fort Wayne Hospital. Efforts made by medical staff weren’t met with success. The toddler — identified as Serenity Wilson –passed away a day later, at around 5:34 p.m., Saturday. The child died as a result of the injuries that were allegedly inflicted by the Indiana man (who is reportedly not the child’s biological father). Weedling was also charged with possession of marijuana — a minor offense in comparison to the charges associated with the traumatic death of the 2-year-old tot. The child’s official cause of death will be publicized after an autopsy is completed on Monday.
This is certainly not the first time a child has been murdered by his or her mother’s boyfriend. Just recently, the mystery of “Baby Doe” was cracked with the arrests of the child’s mother and her boyfriend. Identified as Bella Bond , authorities believe that “Baby Doe” was murdered by the mother’s boyfriend, and she covered for him. In 2013, a child named Elaina Stenfurth was killed by her mother’s boyfriend. The man admitted to smothering the tot to death, but it wasn’t until after the girl’s own mother had thrown her against a wall several hours prior. The woman’s boyfriend attempted to pass off his role in her death as a sort of mercy killing to put her out of the misery that was caused by injuries inflicted by her own mother. In another horrific crime against children, a Missouri mom reportedly allowed her boyfriend to sexually assault her baby, which ultimately killed the child. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Jessica Lynn Howell handed her 1-month-old infant to a man that she had discovered to be a convicted child molester. She encouraged him to sexually assault her infant. The infant died from internal bleeding and asphyxiation.
[Photo: Serenity Wilson via Marshall County Sheriff]
