INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — An Independence mom will spend her Mother’s Day rocking her son back to health after investigators say he was critically burned at the hands of his babysitter.
The boy has been covering at Children’s Mercy Hospital since Tuesday. Two-year-old Vincent has been learning how to play with his feet since the use of his little hands are hampered. Hailey Mitchell and Anthony Di Domenico said they’ve been thrust into a world of doctors, authorities, and investigators.
The couple picked up their son Tuesday from their babysitter’s home off South Dodgion Avenue in Independence. They said the boy’s hands were wrapped in gauze and socks. They said the sitter told them the boy was burned from a bowl of ramen noodle soup. They took him to a local hospital and an ambulance transferred him to Children’s Mercy.
Di Domenico said, “Once we got there, right away, you could tell the doctors, they were like, ‘yeah, we see ramen noodle burns all the time. This is not indicative of a ramen noodle burn.’”
The parents said the Department of Family Services and Independence Police are working this case. Jackson County Prosecutors charged babysitter Christian Johnston Friday. The woman goes by Christie.
Mitchell described her son’s wounds. “It’s solely on his wrists, fully submerged and his hands, both hands, perfect lines where the burns stop.” The parents say their boy might have to have skin taken from his thighs to replace the dead skin on the backs of his hands. It’s hard on the toddler and on the young couple. “He knows he’s got ‘owies.’ He wants to go home so bad. He’s going stir crazy in there.”
Mitchell said, “I’m very angry. I’m hurt. I had full, complete trust with her. I never thought anything like this would happen.” They’re also working through the shock of it all. Johnston has watched all three of the pair’s kids for almost a year now. They want other parents to know what happened to their boy.
Johnston is facing a felony charge of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. She wasn’t home when FOX 4 stopped by, but her neighbor said she thought she saw kids there Friday morning.
FOX 4 could not find any information showing that Johnston is licensed with the state to run an in-home daycare. The parents told FOX 4 they hired the woman through an online child care site.
