Caregiver

Chang reported that she tried to feed the boy and change his diaper around 11 p.m.; he did not swallow but let the food run out of his mouth. She said she put him in bed because his hands were cold, but that through the night he never moved or woke up.

The next morning, Chang said, the boy was still in bed and appeared to be sleeping, so she got her children ready for school. When she put him in his high chair, he slumped over to the side and was not responding. She put him in bed, walked her children to catch the school bus, and checked on the boy, whose face was now cold, his hands rigid, and legs stiff. His lips were white.

She and her husband took the boy to the hospital at about 9:40 a.m. He was declared dead at 10:13 a.m.

The boy’s death was reported to Maurer by county Chief Deputy Coroner David Garver shortly thereafter. When the detective responded to the hospital, a nurse, Jennifer Walsh, told him she had concerns about the case because the boy had bruises on his forehead, a scratch on his neck and shoulder, and his body temperature was only 82 when Chang arrived with him at the emergency room.

An autopsy revealed that the boy had acute subdural hematoma, cerebral edema, and hemorrhages around his eyes. He also had blunt trauma to the torso and upper extremities, but no healing or healed fractures or chronic brain injuries were found, according to the complaint.

Later, an examination was conducted by a pediatric expert at Willis Eye Hospital in Philadelphia, who concluded that the boy was the victim of “abusive head trauma characterized by repeated acceleration-deceleration with likely blunt head impact”— much like shaken infant syndrome.

In October 2017, Dr. Tracey Corey, the chief medical examiner for Kentucky, completed a comprehensive forensic pathology review, according to the complaint. “Noting the lack of any significant trauma to explain the injuries suffered by the child, Dr. Corey’s report indicates that the cause of death is a traumatic brain injury,” the complaint states. “She states that in her opinion, the manner of death is a homicide.”