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Springfield police are still unsure how the baby was injured, according to an affidavit, but determined the story Rice and a young girl told authorities didn’t make sense. The charging documents also accuse her of causing “serious physical harm to the child victim, which resulted in a broken femur (thighbone).”
Springfield defense attorney Charles Ricketts, who is representing Rice, declined comment Wednesday.
The baby’s date of birth on the report indicates the baby is about 10 months old.
Police began their investigation on Dec. 28 when they were called to Dayton Children’s Hospital, according to the affidavit. The police met the parents, according to the affidavit, and determined the child would be placed with a family member. They then interviewed a young child who lives in the house Jan. 8.
“During that interview, she stated that she removed the child victim from the crib and placed him on the bed all without her step-mom watching her,” the affidavit says. “(The daughter) stated that she played with the child victim on the bed and he was laughing. She stated that she had to go to the bathroom at which time she left the child victim unattended on the bed.”
The child told police she then went and sat on a couch until her mother asked where the baby was and the child told her the baby was upstairs, the affidavit says.
“(The child) stated that she heard the child victim cry,” the affidavit said. “She indicated that this was ‘not a normal cry.’ ” The girl told police it wast at this time that she heard her stepmother cry and that her dad was called, according to the affidavit.
Before the interview with the child, it was determined that while (the child) was gone, the child victim rolled off the bed and allegedly landed upside down on his head, the affidavit says. The mother reportedly told police that she couldn’t calm the baby and called her husband home and took the child to the hospital.
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“It should be noted that the accounts Michelle Rice gave the hospital have some variations,” the affidavit says.
A doctor said the story told doesn’t add up because the child would have a head injury instead of a broken femur, according to the affidavit.
“Michelle Rice was asked to come to police headquarters on 1/15/19 which she did,” the affidavit says. “(A detective) read her Miranda rights. Michelle Rice then requested an attorney.”
Detectives spoke with prosecutors and elected to arrest Rice then, according to the affidavit.
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