Overview
- The probable-cause affidavits, published Monday and Tuesday, cite an autopsy that determined 2-year-old Erik Reichard died from severe malnourishment and dehydration.
- Investigators reported foreign material in his colon consistent with diaper gel and pieces of drywall, paint chips, or spackling found throughout the home.
- Tell City police said Trevor Reichard-Hayes called 911 on March 31 about an unresponsive child, and officers pronounced Erik dead at the scene after learning he had not been seen alive for about 14 hours.
- Detectives documented squalid conditions in the children’s rooms, including feces on floors, torn diapers, insects, drywall debris, and a training toilet full of human waste that appeared uncleaned for days or weeks.
- Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, were arrested Friday on murder and multiple neglect counts, remain jailed in Perry County, and face May court dates as Indiana child welfare removed two other children from the home.