A Greybull woman accused of starving her 4-year-old son almost to death faces up to 25 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Tammy Hannon, also known as Tammy Earl, is charged with one count of aggravated child abuse on claims she starved her 4-year-old son to such a degree that he suffered brain damage, nearly died and was too weak to clear his throat or lift himself from a lying position.
Hannon, who turns 25 this year, had her case rise to the felony-level Big Horn County District Court on Friday.
Tripped On A Toy
Hannon found her 4-year-old son unresponsive in his bed Feb. 15, and she called her mother, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
Hannon told police the boy had tripped on a toy that day.
Hannon’s mother arrived and drove both Hannon and the little boy to the emergency room at Three Rivers Hospital in Basin, Wyoming, says the document.
There, medical personnel took the boy into the pediatric intensive care unit because he was reportedly in critical condition.
The affidavit says he weighed 18 pounds – which would be a normal weight for an 8-month-old baby, not a 4-year old boy. He was starved, couldn’t lift his head, his lips and hands were colorless, he didn’t react to pain and his eyes were fixed and dilated, says the affidavit.
He couldn’t clear his own throat, in which food had lodged, and he had to be intubated, reportedly.
Hannon told emergency room staffers the boy had started losing weight about two months earlier, but she didn’t seek help for him, the document says.
Medical personnel weren’t sure if the boy would live. They had him life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Four More Children
During the scramble, Wyoming Department of Family Services case worker Kristy Michaels told Greybull Police Chief Kenneth Blosser that Hannon has four other children, including a newborn.
Blosser, probation agent Bradley Lee and Michaels stopped by Hannon’s home, which she shares with her boyfriend Ty Myers, but “it was apparent that no one was home when we arrived,” Blosser wrote later.
Michaels then found the other children at their maternal grandparents’ home. The authorities decided to leave the children at their grandparents’ house while they investigated what had happened with the 4-year-old, the affidavit says.
‘Pressure Sores’
Child protective authorities in Salt Lake City reportedly called Blosser on Feb. 16, saying they believed the boy had suffered severe child abuse.
Hannon told a police sergeant in Salt Lake City that her children were playing normally the day before, including the boy, who hit his head on the carpeted floor after tripping over a toy and became unresponsive.
Dr. Margaret Russell, child abuse pediatric fellow at Primary Children’s Hospital, told Blosser there was no way the boy could have been active enough to trip on a toy that day.
He had shock, dangerously high levels of sodium, extremely low oxygen levels, acute kidney injury. His body also was emaciated and he had “pressure sores” on his back, shoulder blades and bottom, indicating he couldn’t move from a lying position, Russell said.
She’d later also noted hair loss, brain volume loss, fluid build-up in the brain and an electrolyte imbalance threatening the boy’s vital organs.
Her only conclusion was that he was starved. No other or sudden medical event could have caused his array of injuries, and the boy’s starvation would have been ongoing for weeks or months, and obvious, the affidavit relates from Russell’s interview with Blosser.
Medical personnel gave the boy medications and electrolytes and put him on a ventilators since he couldn’t breathe on his own.
From Billings To Thermopolis
Michaels called medical clinics from Billings, Montana, to Thermopolis, Wyoming, searching for medical records for the boy. She found none, says the document.
She also reportedly found no medical records for Hannon’s other children.
Hannon told case workers in Salt Lake City that she is a “stay-at-home mom.” She also claimed the boy had been to clinics in Worland, Thermopolis, or Basin, the document says.
Doctors weren’t concerned about the boy’s weight loss, the mother allegedly claimed.
The case worker then spoke with the nurses who were caring for the boy. They said they’d never seen sodium levels so high, reportedly.
They also told the caseworker Hannon was on her cellphone the whole time she was at the hospital, seemingly unconcerned with her son’s health or care.
‘Ethiopian’
Hannon’s dad told Blosser on Feb. 21 that he hadn’t seen the boy for about a month prior to the incident. The boy was looking “a little Ethiopian” and “ate up a storm” at the grandpa’s house, he said.
Hannon’s dad said he’d urged his daughter to take the boy to the doctor at that time.
Torture
After reviewing the evidence, Blosser decided the boy’s near-deadly starvation fit the definition of torture.
Police executed a search warrant at Hannon’s home on Feb. 27.
They allegedly found methamphetamine pipes and residue, and a “tooter” straw.
Hannon vanished from the hospital on Feb. 23, but she was in police custody as of March 1, her court file says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
