An Arkansas house condemned after an infant was reportedly found bitten up to 100 times by rats inside was set ablaze and destroyed in a controlled burn Monday, officials said.
The 880-square-foot, one-story residence at 214 S. Cordelia St. in Magnolia, which is about 53 miles east of Texarkana, was burned around 6:15 p.m., according to the Magnolia Fire Department.
It had been part of an investigation after a 2-week-old baby reportedly suffered dozens of bites across her 5-pound body while sleeping inside a room of the wooden-framed home earlier this year.
On June 26, the Magnolia City Council voted to condemn the house and ordered that it be demolished, according to the newspaper. The home’s owner, Jim Brewster, had until Aug. 7 to make repairs or remove the residence.
The girl’s parents — Erica Shryock, 19, and Charles Elliott, 18 — reportedly awoke May 14 to find their child covered in blood and rat bites on her face, arms, hands and fingers. An infant toboggan “soaked in blood” and a blood-soaked blanket were found inside the home.
A 1-inch wound to the baby’s forehead left her skull visible and required extensive reconstructive surgery, authorities said.
Dr. Karen Farst at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock told investigators she believed that the parents were either “absent or incapacitated to not have responded,” according to an affidavit filed in Columbia County Circuit Court.
Shryock and Elliott each face felony charges of permitting abuse of a minor and first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for up to 20 years and be required to pay up to $21,000 in fines.
Their cases were placed on hold in early July pending the completion of mental evaluations.
Information for this article was contributed by Jeannie Roberts of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.