Henderson parents on probation in prior child abuse case when newborn suffered injury

The baby boy born to a Henderson couple in August was never supposed to leave the hospital with his parents.

The couple had abused another infant son in Texas and were being monitored by Child Protective Services. The agency was supposed to take custody of the baby immediately after his birth, according to authorities, and had alerted area hospitals not to let the pair leave with the newborn.

But something went terribly wrong.

Katie Maynard, 21, and Robert Aufdenberg, 22, and their newborn were discharged from St. Rose Dominican Hospital, Siena campus, the day after his birth. Within a week, the infant had suffered a traumatic brain injury in his parents’ care.

Doctors are not optimistic about the child’s future.

Where the system failed is not clear. Because of patient privacy laws, neither St. Rose Dominican Hospital nor Child Protective Services will discuss specifics of the case, though the Clark County agency confirmed that it sent an alert to area hospitals.

“Katie admitted to knowing that she had been flagged in the system and they (the hospital) still allowed them to go home,” a February arrest report said. “For unknown reasons, the safety plan of prohibiting Katie and Robert from removing (their son) from the hospital failed and he was released to them in the company of other family members.”

In May 2014, Maynard and Aufdenberg were convicted of felony child abuse involving the second of their three children in Texas. When the couple moved to Nevada, Child Protective Services in Clark County took over the case.

According to Maynard’s arrest report, the agency had been involved with Maynard and Aufdenberg since January 2015. Maynard told Henderson police that she had given her due date to her Clark County caseworker, but was not contacted when she was near the due date or after the baby’s birth Aug. 18.

In an email, county spokesman Dan Kulin said Child Protective Services sends a “hospital alert” to all area hospitals “at the point of pregnancy when it is believed that the fetus is viable,” or when a woman is about 24 weeks into her pregnancy.

Kulin said he could not discuss specific details of the case, but he confirmed that Child Protective Services had sent an alert notifying hospitals that Maynard might be giving birth soon.

Hospital spokeswoman Katie Ryan, citing patient privacy laws, said she could not comment on whether the hospital had received an alert.

NONACCIDENTAL TRAUMA

After the hospital allowed Maynard to leave with her son, she and her family came up with their own safety plan, her arrest report said. Aufdenberg’s mother would spend the night at their house, or they would spend the night at hers, so that the couple would never be alone with their son.

But Henderson police do not believe the family was following the plan when the newborn was shaken so hard he suffered a serious brain bleed. Using cellphone records, police determined that Aufdenberg’s mother was not with the others until the next morning, when they went to the pediatrician for the baby’s 1-week checkup.

Maynard’s mother picked the trio up from the trailer about 8 a.m. on Aug. 27 and took the family to St. Rose’s Siena campus, according to the arrest report. The baby had an episode while at the pediatrician’s office, and medical staff told the family to go immediately to the emergency room.

The infant then was taken by ambulance to University Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.

William Smith, the neurosurgeon who operated on the baby, told police “the child is likely to survive but will probably be devastated.”

It was the doctor’s opinion that the baby’s injuries had happened within 24 hours, and more likely within 12 hours, of the time he performed the surgery. Medical records indicated that the injuries were caused by nonaccidental trauma.

“Although it’s hard to predict on children, Dr. Smith advised that the child may end up not functioning higher than he is now,” the arrest report read. The baby was still in 24-hour medical care when the report was written in February.

Neither police nor Kulin would comment on the baby’s current condition or whereabouts.

Initially, Aufdenberg and Maynard, who had been together for five years before marrying in March 2015, denied ever getting angry when their baby cried.

In an interview with police the day the infant was hospitalized, Aufdenberg said he might have brought his son to his shoulder too abruptly when trying to get him to stop crying the night before.

“The only time is when I picked him up too fast,” he told police.

He denied becoming frustrated to the point of shaking the infant but said he bounced the baby up and down. He was not sure whether he bounced his son hard enough to shake the baby’s brain.

“I never intended to intentionally hurt any of my children,” the father told police.

Both parents were arrested March 17 by Henderson police. On Thursday, a Clark County grand jury indicted them on felony child abuse and neglect charges and a judge scheduled an Aug. 8 hearing in district court.

In court Thursday, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Stanton said the baby “has massive, permanent, irrevocable brain injuries which will, according to the testimony presented to this grand jury, cause an expedited death in his life.”

Another prosecutor in the case, Dena Rinetti, asked a pediatric abuse specialist whether the baby’s injuries could have come from being rocked to sleep, according to court transcripts.

“No. I mean every single one of us is rocked to sleep at some point in our lives,” said Dr. Sandra Cetl. “This would be an extreme amount of force, an extreme amount of shaking, nothing gentle or just kind of normal every day baby care.”

Maynard’s attorney, Samuel Frank Stapleton, said Wednesday that he’s waiting on an expert’s medical opinion to determine his defense strategy. His client’s mother has spent “hundreds of hours doing research” on children with symptoms like her grandson’s, he said.

“The shivering, the discolored feet, the same symptoms — it’s a birth problem more than anything else, not abuse by Katie or her husband,” Stapleton said. “But I’ve gotta have a doctor tell me that.”

Aufdenberg’s attorney, Keith Brower, refused to comment on the case.

GUILTY PLEAS IN TEXAS

On April 2, 2014, the couple’s second child, an 11-week-old boy, was taken to Hopkins County Memorial Hospital in Sulphur Springs, Texas, with multiple fractures and burn injuries.

“His left arm was markedly swollen with considerable deformity,” Dr. Matthew Cox, a certified child abuse pediatrician who testified in the case, wrote in his report. “His right lower leg was swollen and tender. His eyelids were swollen and red.”

Cox documented a large burn to the right side of the infant’s head that appeared to be several days old, newer burns to both feet that indicated he was placed in “scalding hot water,” and multiple bone fractures that had occurred at three different ages. The boy’s broken bones included six fractured ribs, two fractured vertebrae, a broken left arm and fractures in his lower right leg.

“There was also significant delay in seeking care for many of his injuries — particularly the left arm injury and the burns,” Cox wrote. “The majority of his rib fractures are at least 2 weeks old. … His left arm fracture was approximately 7 days old.”

“In my opinion the medical findings are indicative of inflicted injuries and child physical abuse,” he concluded.

Maynard and Aufdenberg each struck a deal with the Hopkins County district attorney’s office and pleaded guilty in January 2015 to a second-degree felony of recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child under 14 years old. The boy has since been adopted, Stanton said Thursday.

The parents were each given 10 years of probation and a suspended sentence of 10 years in prison.

Hopkins County Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Clay Harrison said his office is aware of the new charges and could use the case to revoke the couple’s probation if they are convicted in Nevada.

In a Facebook post in January, Aufdenberg professed his love for Maynard and wrote that he was sorry their first child was a daddy’s girl.

“But the boys will love and look up to mommy and be mama’s boys,” he wrote.

Aufdenberg and Maynard are being held at the Clark County Detention Center on $1 million bail. Their daughter, now 3, is in the care of her great-grandparents, according to Stanton.

Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Find @lauxkimber on Twitter.