The house in which a Wyoming 4-year-old boy nearly starved to death had plenty of available food in it, Greybull Police Chief Ken Blosser said in charging documents filed against the boyfriend of the boy’s mother.
“I observed two freezers, a refrigerator and a pantry all full of food,” Blosser wrote in an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case of Ty Myers.
Myers, who turns 37 this year, is charged with one count of felony child abuse and another of misdemeanor methamphetamine possession.
Myers’ child-abuse charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, making it a lighter accusation than the aggravated child-abuse charge his girlfriend Tammy Hannon faces: the aggravated charge carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Myers is scheduled for a March 18 preliminary hearing in Basin Circuit Court.
The allegations stem from Feb. 16, when Hannon’s 4-year-old son showed up in the emergency room in Basin, starved to the point of being unresponsive, with bed sores and a fixed and dilated gaze, court documents say.
The boy reportedly weighed 18 pounds, comparable to the weight of a healthy 8-month-old.
Blosser declined Thursday to give an update on the boy’s status following a Cowboy State Daily phone call.
The Vanishing
Medical personnel flew the boy from Basin to the Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where staffers at both facilities doubted he’d live, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in Myers’ case.
Dr. Margaret Russell, child pediatric fellow at the Primary Children’s Hospital, reportedly told Chief Blosser that the boy could not have been playing rough Feb. 16, as his mother had claimed, and that he was starved to the point of brain and organ damage.
Meanwhile, Myers was fired from his job on or about Feb. 23, after which he traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, and met Hannon at the hospital where her son was being treated for starvation. The pair fled from the hospital together and did not return, says the affidavit.
But they were arrested in Riverton, Wyoming, on March 1.
Denied
Blosser also interviewed Hannon’s sister, who claimed Hannon and Myers treat the 4-year-old differently than Hannon’s other four children. The boy seems always to be “on the wall,” or standing against the wall for discipline, the sister said.
This got worse after Hannon started dating Myers, the sister said, according to the affidavit.
“She has also observed (Hannon) deny (the boy) food while the others were eating for no apparent reason,” the affidavit relates.
About a week before the boy was life-flighted, the sister allegedly watched him moving about the house sluggishly and aimlessly, unable to play or keep up with his siblings.
The sister told Blosser that Myers is “very controlling” and won’t let Hannon talk on the phone with anyone.
Blosser also found methamphetamine paraphernalia and residue in the home, after executing a search warrant on Feb. 27, the affidavit says.
Myers’ bond is set at $100,000 cash-only. He appeared in court Monday.
If the prosecutor can demonstrate probable cause to believe in Myers’ guilt, the case will advance to the felony-level Big Horn County District Court for a trial.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
