A couple from Missouri is facing felony child abuse after placing their infant inside of a microwave for a “short period of time.”
Parents Derick and Mikala Boyce-Slezak, both 22, were arrested and are currently being held on $500,000 bond for the incident, which police say was first discovered when the infant was admitted to a hospital for a rash on its face. According to the Boyce-Slezaks, the child obtained the rash from some sort of cleaning agent.
Upon further examination of the child, however, it was also discovered that the baby boy also suffered from a fractured skull and a subdural hematoma, according to the New York Post. The rash also turned out to be a second-degree burn caused by the parents possibly placing the infant in the microwave.
The father alleged at some point that the child obtained the head injury after being dropped in an attempt to imitate a television commercial. Mrs. Boyce-Slezak invoked her Fifth Amendment right during a court hearing on Monday. Mr. Boyce-Slezak also didn’t testify.
Nonetheless, a previous statement given by Mrs. Boyce-Slezak to an employee of the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services revealed that the mother admitted that the head wounds came from the baby being dropped by Mr. Boyce-Slezak.
“The employee also testified [in court] that Mikala Boyce-Slezak believes Derick Boyce-Slezak placed the baby boy inside a microwave and turned it on for a “short period of time,” the New York Post reports.
While at the hospital, the Boyce-Slezaks stated that the second-degree burn on the baby was caused by a cleaning agent.
“The injuries were discovered when the baby boy, who was just under four months, was taken to the Cardinal-Glennon Hospital Emergency Room in April for a rash on his face that turned out to be a wound , according to court documents obtained by the St Louis Post-Dispatch,” the Daily Mail writes.
A superficial second-degree wound was also discovered on the baby’s scalp, along with the head injury. The Boyce-Sleazaks are also the parents of a young girl, but they waived their right to custody of the child not long after the baby was born.
