Child abuse charges: 2-year-old girl had broken bones, cigarette burns on body

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - Two people face felony charges after a 2-year-old girl was left with cigarette burns, multiple broken bones, and unable to move her legs from alleged abuse.

The mother Tabitha Sylvia Chisholm, 26, was charged with neglect of a child and child endangerment while her boyfriend Rayco Delshaune Traylor, 31, was charged with assault in the first degree for their alleged involvement in the injuries of a 2-year-old girl, the criminal complaint states.

According to court documents, on Sept. 4, police officers responded to an apartment on the 7900 block of Zane Avenue North in Brooklyn Park for a report of a fight and later a report of an unconscious 2-year-old. 

When officers arrived at the apartment, they found the child laying on an air mattress with her eyes open but not responding to stimuli. Law enforcement also noticed the girls had several visible injuries, the complaint states.

Police say the 2-year-old had what appeared to be a burn on her foot "caused by a cigarette," a burn on her face, a cut on her forehead, and a swollen arm, according to the complaint. 

The girl was taken to the hospital and has "not shown movement in her legs", the complaint reads. She was also diagnosed with a skull and vertebral fracture, a spinal cord injury, two fractured bones in her left leg, and a fractured bone in her right arm. 

When police asked Chisholm about her daughter’s arm injury, she said she believed it was a "nursemaid’s elbow" and added she and Traylor put the girl's arm back in place after Googling instructions on the internet, the complaint states.

During the investigation, Chisholm told police she was at work while Traylor was looking after her daughter, but when he didn’t answer her phone calls, she went home to check on her daughter. Investigators say Traylor was in the apartment when Chisholm called the police, but left out the back door of the building before officers arrived, according to the complaint.

Traylor returned to the apartment several hours later and was arrested. Officers noticed blood on Traylor’s shirt at the time of the arrest, the complaint states. 

During the investigation, Chisholm allegedly told police she noticed additional injuries on her daughter last week but did not get medical care because she "didn’t want people to think the injuries were caused by abuse and risk losing custody of her child," the complaint reads. 

The pair are set to make their first court appearance Thursday.