Adrian Nichole Vetter beat a baby’s head against a crib and wall, officers said. (Mugshot: Wichita County Jail)
A woman is accused of brutally abusing an infant boy, leaving him with brain bleeds and other injuries, according to cops in Wichita Falls, Texas. Adrian Nichole Vetter, 22, is in the local jail on $1 million bond for injury to a child, online records show.
Officers said the victim, a 10-month-old boy, was taken to United Regional Hospital, where staff discovered he had two brain bleeds, according to KFDX. They rushed him over to Cook Children’s Medical Center in the city of Fort Worth. An emergency room doctor told investigators the child’s head injuries indicated shaken baby syndrome.
Vetter, who had been watching the child, claimed he had a seizure and fell backward that Monday, striking his head on the wooden vinyl flooring, authorities claim. But Dr. Elizabeth Peeler, a child abuse pediatrician specializing forensic pediatrics, said the boy, who was in critical condition, was having seizures from severe head trauma. She said the injuries were from physical abuse.
After they confronted Vetter with the consistencies in her story, Vetter said she had been arguing with her husband over the phone about canceling their wedding, police said. Also, the baby had also been refusing to take a nap that Monday at around 11 a.m., an officer said. At around 3 p.m., she lost her temper, grabbed him from the crib, and struck the back of his head on the side rail in an attempt to stop him from crying, she allegedly said. In this version of events, she brought him to the hallway, where she struck his head into the wall forcefully. The baby began gasping for air, she allegedly said.
According to cops, she described bringing him to the living room, put him on the floor, went to the kitchen for milk, and returned to find him unconscious and not breathing. Dr. Peeler, however, said it appeared that Vetter was downplaying what happened; it was believed Vetter hit the baby’s head on the crib and wall several times, not only one time each.
The physical damage included spinal injuries and severe brain trauma, police said. Peeler said she did not know if the baby would survive, but she noted his prognosis was very poor, according to cops. The doctor called the abuse a “near fatality event.”
The baby’s mother said that Vetter had been watching her son for two weeks, police claim. She acknowledged the defendant had a temper, but she “has never seen her take it out on children, just her own dogs.”
A GoFundMe to support the baby’s recovery is here.
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