Four-month-old Baby Dies With Worms

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

The death of a four-month-old baby who was found to be malnourished and covered in worms was a homicide. This is what Iowa authorities have said after the autopsy that was carried out on little Sterling Koehn, a resident of the town of Alta Vista in Chicksaw County.

The boy was discovered by paramedics on August 30 when at 12:57 pm an ambulance was called to his family's home reporting his death. In the 911 call, it was said that around 9:00 pm the child's mother had fed him and that he was "fine", but that around 11:00 or 11:30 he checked him again and "had died".

The minor was discovered still lifeless in his children's electric rocking chair with a diaper that had not been changed in a week and with worms in various stages of gestation on his skin and clothing.

Now the Chicksaw County District Attorney's Office is accusing the boy's parents, Cheyanne Harris, 20, and Zachary Koehn, 28, of first-degree murder and putting the life of a child at risk.

According to the criminal report of said prosecution, the child was measured and weighed and was in the fifth percentage in terms of size and weight for a child his age. Additionally, an entomologist determined that the creature "had not had a diaper change, a bath, or had been moved from its site in a week."

According to said document - which was issued this Tuesday - the minor's death was classified as homicide because his parents did not seek critical care for him.

"This case goes beyond abandonment and shows circumstances that show extreme indifference to [a] human life," concludes the report released by WHOTV in Iowa. The couple remains in a cell in the county of Chicksaw as he awaits his November 2 hearing where charges will be formally read to them.