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Baby severely injured in tragic child abuse in Roseville
A Roseville mom said her worst fears came true when her son was physically beaten by a woman she believed she could trust.
ROSEVILLE, Mich. (FOX 2) - UPDATE: Kyrie has died from his injuries. See original story below or click here for the update.
Taylor Starks said when she left her 11-month-old son in the care of her babysitter, she trusted the woman to ensure her child was safe. But at 1:50 a.m. the next day, she got a fateful text about the way her son was sleeping. Now, a week later, he's laying in the hospital with no brain activity and the babysitter is facing charges.
Starks spoke with FOX 2's Jessica Dupnack on Tuesday and said her beautiful 1-year-old baby boy, Kyrie, has a severe brain injury and said the babysitter she had let watch her son multiple times before is responsible.
"He's only 1 and he knows how to count to 5," Starks said. "It's been a week but it feels like forever."
Her little boy was in the care of the trusted babysitter and friend. That's who police said allegedly beat him so badly that he needed brain surgery.
"All I know is she threw my son into the wall and shook him up pretty bad and they said that's just a bit of what she did to him," Starks said.
The sitter, identified as Kimora Hodges, was taking care of Kyrie on June 13th. Early the next morning, Starks said Hodges messaged her about her son. At first, she said Kyrie had eaten soap and was having an allergic reaction.
Starks rushed home to her Roseville apartment complex.
Kyrie, 1, has a severe brain injury and the babysitter who was supposed to take care of him is charged with child abuse and possibly more.
"Once I made it there my baby was on the ground having seizure, after seizure, after seizure," she said.
At first, she believed the alleged allergy story. But once Kyrie was in the care of doctors at Ascension St. John, she learned the worst.
"He had blunt force trauma to the head and he was bleeding out his ears and had to have immediate brain surgery," Starks said.
It's been a week and his condition hasn't improved. Tests are showing that there is no brain activity.
For now, Hodges is charged with first degree child abuse and is being held on a $250,000 bond, no 10%.
Roseville Police Chief Ryan Monroe said Hodges is answering questions and could face more charges if the boy dies.
"Very cooperative and very regretful remorseful for her actions. But it obviously doesn't take it back," Monroe said.
Starks is spending every minute by her baby's side.
"I'm only 18 I don't have a mom or a dad it's just me and my baby," she said. "I'm hurt. I'm so hurt she did this to me I would have never done this to her and her baby."
According to her GoFundMe page, her son was first hurt around 10 p.m. on the 13th but it wasn't until 1:51 a.m. on the 14th that she was contacted. By 2:05 a.m., Starks said she was by her son's side.
She said that Hodges had watched her son for months and that this is her worst fear coming true.