Vile charges: Rachel Stevens
(left), 28, and her girlfriend Kayla Jones (right), 25, have been
charged with felony child abuse by injury and child neglect for
allegedly torturing Stevens' 5-year-old son for months
Doctors at
the hospital contacted police after determining that the child had
several broken bones in various stages of healing and appeared
malnourished.
While the boy was receiving medical treatment, he suffered two strokes 'due to his trauma,' according to an affidavit cited by Tulsa World.
Investigators
subsequently interviewed the little boy and learned that the child had
been tied up, had duct tape placed over his eyes and had been kept in a
locked room, the document states.
The
toddler also claimed that his mother struck him on the hand with a
hammer, and that both she and Jones hit him with a belt all over his
body.
According
to police, the horrific abuse went on for several months. The little
boy said on one occasion, his step-mother kicked him in the groin until
he bled.
Court documents state Stevens,
pictured left with the victim and his twin brother, struck her son with a
hammer and whipped him with a belt. The toddler (right) also said he
had been kept in a locked room
The station NewsOn6 reported
that the couple then launched a GoFundMe campaign for Stevens' son,
claiming that the toddler was picking his own face and was having
seizures after suffering a fall.
Police
said the suspects, who reportedly have been together for 18 months,
shard their Muskogee home with the victim’s twin brother and 7-year-old
sister, but they do not believe those children were mistreated.
More than a month later, the 5-year-old remains at the Tulsa hospital getting treated for his injuries.
His two siblings have been taken into the custody of the Department of Human Services.
Stevens and Jones are both due back in court later this month.