An Indiana father whose six-month-old son was found nearly eaten alive by rats with 50 different bite marks received the maximum sentence of 16 years for his horrific crimes.
The boy, who was just six months old when he was found in September 2023, suffered more than 50 bites to his forehead, cheek, nose, thigh, foot and toes while sleeping in his crib in a “horror house” in Evansville, before being He was found by his father, David Schonabaum, 32, the next morning missing all the fingers on his right hand.
Near death, his son required a blood transfusion, an affidavit revealed, and was subsequently rushed to a hospital before being flown 170 miles away to Indianapolis.
There, specialists worked around the clock on the boy’s “traumatic injuries” and fortunately managed to save him, although he is now permanently disfigured.
Schonabaum was found guilty last month of three felonies related to neglecting and endangering his children, and yesterday received a 16-year sentence.
Police said at the time that Schonabaum, his wife Angel Schonabaum and the baby’s aunt, Delania Thurman, who also lived at the Evansville residence, allowed the incident to unfold.
Police said at the time that David Schonabaum (pictured, left) and his wife Angel Schonabaum (pictured, right) neglected their son.
His home in Evansville, Indiana, was described as a “house of horror.”
They were also arrested and charged in connection with the incident. The baby’s mother pleaded guilty last week to felony charges of neglect and will be sentenced later this month, while Thurman was sentenced to two years of probation in April.
“Their excuse was that they didn’t hear the child cry,” Evansville Police Sergeant Anna Gray explained after the baby’s release, noting that he was almost eaten alive.
“The house was overrun with rodents,” he added of the home, which detectives say contained clutter and trash, such as discarded food inside the victim’s bedroom, and also allegedly housed four other young children.
“It’s one of those situations where they just weren’t paying attention,” the department’s official statement continued.
‘The wounds were significant and the child was losing blood at a very high rate.
“(He) could have gone into shock pretty early.”
While the officer’s statement didn’t shed much light on the boy’s condition, he did say that “from what the doctors and nurses told the detectives, (he was) very close to death.”
She revealed: ‘The boy had lost so much blood that he actually had to have blood transfusions too.
Delania Thurman, the boy’s 25-year-old aunt, had been living in the home with her two children for about four months, police said.
The affidavit also describes the mess and trash that detectives observed both inside and outside the home after arriving at the scene, where they said they found several discarded foodstuffs inside the victim’s bedroom.
Police detective. Jonathan Helm wrote about how members of the force found the boy after receiving a frantic 911 call from David, who reportedly woke up to the gruesome scene around 6:30 a.m., unsure if his son was still alive. .
Meanwhile, the affidavit filed with Monday’s arrests of the Schonabaums and Thurman provided information about the squalid conditions the boy was subjected to while living in the South Linwood Avenue home, which cops said was plagued by garbage, rodent tracks and feces.
“They had to amputate several of his fingers.”
Meanwhile, records show that a caseworker from Maglinger Home Based Services visited the home much more recently, four days before the father called 911, but again, no action was taken.
It also shows how an allegation of physical abuse was made against David in June 2023, and that the claim at that time was even substantiated by DCS.
However, since the family was already receiving services at the time of the complaint, the decision was made to continue with initial services, police said.
Days earlier, another DCS caseworker traveled to the home, police wrote, and spoke with Thurman, who told him the home had a “normal number of mice.”
The social worker added that when asked about what appeared to be bite marks on the foot of one of the children, she denied that the injuries were caused by rodents.
A few weeks earlier, in early summer, Thurman and her children began living in the house, which David told police was actually owned by his cousin, and that the clan was supposedly allowed to live there on the sole condition of maintaining the house.
Gray said all of the children have since been placed in foster care, including the child who was just released from the hospital.
“Their excuse was that they didn’t hear the child cry,” Evansville Police Sergeant Anna Gray explained Friday after the baby was released, commenting on how he was nearly eaten alive.
Police in the city near Kentucky say the trio, David Schonabaum, 31, Angel Schonabaum, 28, and Delania Thurman, 25, who also lived at the Evansville residence, allowed the incident to unfold. .
In a statement, he said that of the countless cases of negligence he has seen over two decades in law enforcement, this one takes the cake.
“I’ve been an officer for 20 years and we’ve seen some cases of gross negligence, but none involving rats feeding on a child,” Gray said. “It’s horrible.”
The affidavit also described the mess and trash that detectives observed both inside and outside the home after arriving at the scene, where they said they found several discarded foodstuffs inside the victim’s bedroom.
Also discovered in the room where the baby was sleeping were what investigators identified as a series of rodent prints left in the blood, as well as rodent feces and several items in the room that appeared to have been chewed.
In other rooms, officers said they found more feces, as well as a series of rat traps and a bait box.
Police further revealed that the home had a foul odor emanating from both the kitchen and the basement, and that the boy’s parents had two other children living inside the residence, ages three and six.
Police said the service also began making twice-weekly visits to the family’s home in April 2023, where a caseworker’s notes showed the home at the time was filled with trash, animal droppings and dishes. dirty.
But, the caseworker wrote at the time, the condition of the home was “slowly improving” and no action was taken against either parent.
Meanwhile, the affidavit filed with the arrests of Schonabaum and Thurman provided insight into the squalid conditions the boy was subjected to while living in the South Linwood Avenue home, which cops said was littered with trash, footprints rodents and feces.
Police detective. Jonathan Helm wrote about how members of the force found the boy after receiving a frantic 911 call from David, who reportedly woke up to the spooky scene around 6:30 a.m., unsure if his son was still alive. .
“All four of (the victim’s) fingers and the thumb of her right hand were missing the flesh from the top, exposing the bones at the tips of her fingers,” Helm wrote, describing the damage the baby suffered during the night.
“The damage to (the victim’s) index and little fingers was the most severe,” he added, noting that the appendages “were missing flesh on half of each finger.”
Prosecutor Diana Moers said in a statement last month after Schonabaum’s verdict: “This case is horrible and we will live with the images of this baby forever.”
‘It is completely shocking to the conscience that anyone would live in these conditions let alone allow their children, babies and animals to live in absolute filth when they cannot help it.
“It is also unimaginable how a rat could cause so much damage to this baby before his father called for help.”
