Couple charged with neglect after infant goes into septic shock

INDIANAPOLIS (WXIN) — A Beech Grove couple is facing felony charges after a 1-year-old boy who was in their care was hospitalized in critical condition.

Mercedes Wilson is charged with neglect of a dependent, obstruction of justice, and false informing. Devaughnte Bauer faces two counts of neglect of a dependent.

According to court documents, the baby’s mother had given Wilson and Bauer permission to care for the 1-year-old and his sibling while she moved to Oklahoma to join her fiancé.

Police were called to Riley Children’s Hospital on March 7 where the baby was reported to be in septic shock with sores, rashes and trauma that required emergency surgery. The child was hooked to a machine that controlled all his vitals and was “basically in a mental coma and was unresponsive,” according to the court documents.

One doctor noted that the child’s injuries were “highly suspicious of sexual abuse” with another doctor calling the injuries “the second worst case he has ever seen,” according to documents.

Police reported that when the child’s mother was notified in Oklahoma she didn’t display any urgency in returning to Indiana and “didn’t seem very concerned.”

Court documents reveal that Wilson theorized that the child’s injuries may have come from using a spoon to help with the child’s constipation. A doctor noted the explanation of a spoon causing the damage was “not likely.”

Police reported collecting both Wilson and Bauer’s phones and finding messages where they mentioned the child bleeding and Google searches for “hole in colon causes” and “septic shock.”