Autopsy: Blood loss from rat bites killed Westwego baby

09:40 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 22, 2009

WWLTV.com

WESTWEGO, La. – Blood loss due to an attack by a rat or rats was determined to be the cause of death of the three-month-old girl who died last week in a Westwego home, according to a statement by Jefferson Parish Forensic Pathologist Susan M. Garcia.



Raw: Distraught family lashes out, blames landlord
The official cause of death of Natalie Hill on the statement was "exsanguination due to destruction of soft tissue secondary to murine activity."

Authorities had been trying to determine whether bites occurred while the child was alive or dead.

Hill was found in her crib, covered in blood and her parents placed an emergency 911 call. Bloody prints that appeared to be those of a rat trailed from the crib.

LSU Trauma Surgeon Dr. Alan Marr, who was not connected to the case, said that the small amount of blood present in an infant’s body mean that fatal blood loss could have occurred in a short period of time.

“The soft tissue, which would be skin and muscle, maybe all the way down to the bone, was torn open and probably in multiple places in order for the child to have lost enough of their blood volume to die.”





"We had hoped the results would be different, to be honest with you,” Munch said.

Munch said his investigators haven’t determined if criminal charges will follow, now that the autopsy findings have been released.

“We were hoping for a different result, but now that we know what happened, we will continue our investigation and see whether anyone is negligent,” Munch said.

The parents of Natalie Hill, Robby Hill and Casey Laine, were in court at a custody hearing Wednesday concerning the status of their other child, a 14-month-old boy who was removed from the home after the baby's death.



The court said it would rule on the case next week after it inspects the home where the parents are living at this time.

Distraught family members defended the parents and lashed out at the home’s landlord, Charles Dufrene, who they say did not use FEMA money he had received to address the home’s structural problems.

“She died devastatingly,” said Ryan Laine, the child’s uncle. “The people that should be responsible for this is the landlord.”

Eyewitness News traveled about 20 miles out of Westwego in hopes of speaking to the landlord ourselves at his Lafitte home. But Dufrene never came to the door. The landlord, neighbors have said, is also Robby Hill's step-father.

“They were good parents that would never let nothing happen to this child,” said Lisa Lenormand, the child’s grandmother, through tears. “That was his (the landlord’s) house for 17 years and he let the children come into that house knowing the kind of danger they were in. He got FEMA assistance three times to fix that place and he failed them. He never gave them a penny.”

Natalie Hill was found in her crib by her parents covered with rat bites Thursday morning in the 700 block of Central Avenue.

The parents found their child covered in blood in her crib about four and a half hours after they fed her last, according to Westwego Police Chief Dwayne Munch, adding that emergency calls were placed to authorities between 7 and 7:30 a.m.

When EMS and police arrived at the house, Munch said, they found Natalie, a large amount of blood and hundred’s of bites on her body – including flesh being removed from her nose and the bottom of her leg. Bloody prints from the crib resembled a large rat.

The curator for Audubon Zoo, Rick Dietz, said rats can be very destructive and aggressive, but it would be very unusual for the rodents to attack a live baby.

"The more likely scenario would be if the baby was dead already that the rats would bite on her," said Dietz. "If she was alive, they probably would not because of the screaming and kicking and all that the baby would do."

Some neighbors acknowledged a neighborhood rodent problem, but said Hill and Lane were good parents.

“They are good parents,” Annette Stevens, a neighbor. “They would never put them in harm’s way. They kept them clean and fed. They were good parents.”

Lane defended herself publically after the death of her daughter in a Times-Picayune video, saying, “It hurts, it feels like a piece of me is gone and it’ll never be back.

“I just wish people would stop and realize that I’m a good parent. My husband is a good parent. I never meant to put my child in any kind of danger. If I had known it was that bad, I would have never even lived there.”

Munch said the home was cluttered, though not necessarily dirty, but he said the structure had several problems.

“Holes in the wall, holes in the floor,” he said. “It’s an older home. It’s not something you would want to be raising a family in.”

Westwego Mayor John Shaddinger said earlier, city code inspectors sent the couple a letter, instructing them to clean up their yard.

"At the front of the house, there was some trash that needed to be removed," said Shaddinger. "They didn't comment that this house needed to be torn down, they never commented that they saw rats. They never commented it had holes in the side of the building or on the roof

That's sad. I think I read a headline on it, but didn't get a chance to read the article.

Even if the landlord has some responsibility here something is very wrong with this story. How does a parent in the same house know hear the screams of their child being attacked by rats? How does a baby get a attacked by rats anyway? Should the parents now have found a temporary way to fill in the holes at least in the childs room?

If it were me I would have moved the heck out of that house for the babies sake. This is bull.

So...

One person has a house. He rents it out. He didn't take care of it properly, and it has lots of rats.

....

A couple has a child. They leave it in a rat infested room. Its bitten by rats and dies, with the parents unaware.

....

Is the landlord being scapegoated for the parents lack of responsibility?

In my mind, the responsibilities you embrace when you bring a child into the world are far greater and more serious than when you rent out a house. My friends who have kids pay serious attention to every little thing that could harm their child.

What if the parents are too poor to move? Wouldn't rats be more common in a poor neighborhood?

I knew somebody that rented and the place had mice and they didn't have the money to move.

My heart goes out to them in their loss, and I already regret my statements, after realizing that they may stumbled across contempt and blame directed towards them on the net.

My point was, I disagree with these people who talk about the fema money as if that makes 'the landlord' the responsible party. A very horrible and preventable thing happened, more than one party was responsible.

However, she said rodents were often seen running through the streets, and she had seen Natalie's father outside laying rat traps in the past. Other neighbors said the city of Westwego provides rat poison to them to deal with rodents in the street.

Mayor John Shaddinger said no code enforcement violations had been reported at the home, and there were no condemnation hearings pending as had been reported by other news agencies. Shaddinger said Westwego does provide residents with poison on a monthly basis if they come to City Hall and report a rodent problem. However, he said he was not aware that there was a major rodent problem in that neighborhood and his employees will be working to address that situation.

"We'll take whatever measures are necessary to make sure the welfare of the citizens is taken care of," said Shaddinger, who stressed that any residents who notice a rodent problem in their community should contact the city.

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/rat_bites_cover_baby_found_dea.html

Authorities think child may have been dead prior to rat bites.

still sad

I was present at an accident where a confused elderly gentleman hit the gas instead of the brakes and killed & harmed many in a large crowd of people.

After it happened, I was thinking: "That poor guy... could you imagine having that on your conscious?" and "We should force elderly people to demonstrate their ability to drive to keep their license! Every year? every 5 years?"

EVERYONE I spoke to that was present at the horrible event wanted to lynch this man, they wanted him up on manslaughter chargers, they thought he was the most horrible and evil person. Its not like he meant to kill people.

All I'm saying is, when something horrible happens, people often go out looking for someone to blame with a lot of hate in their hearts, and it seems to me that in the community where this happened, everyone wants to blame the landlord.

I concur.