The Journal & Courier has a story with this heartbreaking introduction:
A 4-year-old girl found dead in her home Wednesday morning endured a history of abuse, neglect and family upheaval in her brief lifetime, according to court documents and a source familiar with her family.
Aiyana Emily Gauvin’s tragic life ended sometime after her stepmother put her to bed Tuesday night with her hands bound and her mouth covered with duct tape, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Thursday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 6.
The rest of the story is equally disturbing. Having a child has really changed my emotional compass on these things. Before becoming a father, I had an intellectual appreciation of these things, but no real emotional reaction. Now, any time I read about a child being mistreated, at some level, it becomes my boy who is being mistreated.
Incidentally, that’s not the only dead child in the Journal & Courier today. According to this story, a deaf woman who is charged with neglect of a dependent in the January 2004 death of her 18-month-old son made an initial court appearance Thursday, four days after giving birth to another child. She is charged with Class A felony neglect in the Jan. 30, 2004, death of her younger son, Evin W. Norris, who was found in a bathtub of scalding water in the family home in Monon.
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