REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — A 51-year-old woman who ran an in-home day care in Reynoldsburg was charged in the death of a 5-month-old boy, according to police.
Tammra Straughter was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury last week on charges of murder and endangering children. The charges stem from an incident that happened on Oct. 9, 2023 at her home in the 7000 block of White Butterfly Lane.
The Reynoldsburg Division of Police said the boy was in Straughter’s care at the time of “the incident” that led to his death.
Officers and medics were called to the home at 3:20 p.m. on a report of a child who was not breathing. When they arrived, the 5-month-old was breathing and evaluated by medics who said he appeared to be in "normal condition," according to the affidavit.
He was then released to his mother who took the child to Nationwide Children’s Urgent Care.
When the mother and boy arrived at the urgent care, the affidavit says the boy was placed on an ambulance to be transferred to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, but the ambulance had to stop at Mount Carmel East to stabilize him because he “coded” for approximately 45 minutes.
According to court records, after an initial evaluation, NCH medical staff advised officers that the boy "suffered from physical abuse and shaken baby syndrome."
According to the affidavit, his injuries included multiple devastating brain injuries with bleeding, swelling and shifting of the brain, fractures on both sides of his jaw, bleeding in the eyes, ruptured lungs, unreactive pupils, bruising to the scalp, abdomen, chin, neck, back, lower legs, arms, hands, feet and lip.
A detective interviewed the mother and Straughter who said the 5-month-old boy was perfectly healthy, unharmed and smiling when he was dropped off at the day care with his twin brother.
According to the affidavit, Straughter stated that he became “fussy” throughout the day so she was holding him a lot. She reportedly said she laid him on his back on the floor to help another child and when she returned, she saw that he had spit up and appeared to be aspirating.
Straughter then reportedly attempted to clear his airway manually with his bib and a nasal aspirator, patted his back and gave him rescue breaths before calling 911.
She is accused of causing harm to the boy.
She later consented to a detective searching her phone and the detective reportedly found messages that showed her complaining of the twin boys' “fussiness,” according to the affidavit. Those messages were reportedly put in a deleted folder.
Reynoldsburg police are still investigating.
Straughter is being held on $300,000 bond.