Police in Wyoming have arrested a 20-year-old mother and her 21-year-old boyfriend on suspicion that they nearly k*illed her 2-year-old son, leaving him with a fractured leg, damaged organs, and numerous bruises. Authorities announced that Hannah Wingert and Joshua Moody were arrested last week and charged with one count each of attempted first-degree mu*rder and aggravated child abuse.
Approximately 12:36 p.m. on Wednesday, August 23, officers from the Cheyenne Police Department responded to a residence in the 500 block of West 6th Street in response to a welfare check request for a 2-year-old boy. The unidentified caller reported to the dispatcher that the victim was “covered with bruises,” expressing concern for the baby’s welfare.
First responders located the child at the scene and reported that he had suffered “life-threatening injuries that appeared to be the result of physical abuse.”” According to a CPD press release, he was taken by ambulance to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center “where he was initially evaluated and then life-flighted to Denver Children’s Hospital.”
Doctors at the children’s hospital confirmed that the victim had “multiple broken bones and internal injuries,” police said. In addition, doctors reported that the boy had fractured the tibia and fibula in his right leg, fractured vertebrae in his back, brain bleeding, pancreatitis, liver lacerations, an acute kidney injury, a broken clavicle, and two ruptured eardrums.
The primary encounter diagnosis indicated that the child sustained non-accidental trauma, according to the release.
According to investigators, they quickly learned that Wingert and Moody “battered” the child, causing life-threatening injuries. The couple was arrested on Friday and charged with attempted mu*rder and abuse.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by the Cowboy State Daily revealed additional information regarding the circumstances surrounding the toddler’s injuries.
According to the report, Wingert’s mother told police that on August 23, she picked up her daughter, Moody, and her grandson from a motel and observed that the toddler appeared “horrible” with severe bruises covering his face and arms. In addition, she observed that both of the boy’s eyes were swollen shut and that he wore a peculiar “homemade brace” on his right leg.
Upon dropping off her children, Wingert’s mother reportedly contacted the police and the Department of Family Services to report what she had observed.
During an interview at the hospital, Wingert reportedly told police that her son had fallen in the shower and that he frequently engaged in self-injury.
Cowboy State reported that Moody called police on August 24 and claimed that Wingert had “confessed to everything.” In a subsequent interview, he allegedly told investigators he saw Wingert repeatedly punch her son in the head and face.
Moreover, he allegedly stated that on August 23, Wingert was beating her son when she grabbed him by both legs and swung him “like a baseball bat from right to left towards the window” of the motel. Upon completing the swing, Wingert reportedly only let go of one of the boy’s legs, allowing him to swing around her body until he collided with her shoulder and stopped abruptly. According to Moody, he heard the toddler’s leg being “snapped.”
As the toddler screamed in pain, Wingert allegedly put him on the bed and held her hand over his mouth to muffle the sound of his cries.
Moody allegedly told police he was afraid of Wingert, claiming she threatened to k*ill him if she told anybody what she’d done to the child.
Wingert and Moody are both being held in the Laramie County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 6.
