An Indiana father whose six-month-old son was found nearly eaten alive by rats with 50 separate bites was given the maximum sentence of 16 years for his horrific crimes.
The boy, aged just six months when he was found in September 2023, suffered over 50 bites to his forehead, cheek, nose, thigh, foot, and toes as he slept in his crib in an Evansville ‘house of horror’, before being found by his father, 32-year-old David Schonabaum, the next morning with all the fingers on his right hand missing.
Left on the verge of death, his son required a blood transfusion, an affidavit revealed – and was subsequently rushed to a hospital before being airlifted 170 miles away to Indianapolis.
There, specialists worked round-the-clock on the child’s ‘traumatic injuries’ and thankfully managed to save him, though he is now permanently disfigured.
Schonabaum was last month convicted of three felonies related to the neglect and endangerment of his children, and was yesterday handed a 16-year sentence.
Cops said at the time that Schonabaum, his wife Angel Schonabaum, and the baby’s aunt Delania Thurman, who also lived at the Evansville residence, allowed the incident to unfold.
Cops said at the time that David Schonabaum (pictured, left) and his wife Angel Schonabaum pictured, right) neglected their child
Their home in Evansville, Indiana, was described as a ‘house of horror’
They were also arrested and charged in relation to the incident. The baby’s mother pleaded guilty last week to felony neglect charges, and will be sentenced later this month, while Thurman was sentenced to two years of probation in April.
‘Their excuse was that they did not hear the child cry,’ Evansville PD’s Sergeant Anna Gray explained after the infant’s release, remarking how he was nearly eaten alive.
‘The home was overwhelmed with rodents,’ she added of the domicile, which detectives wrote contained clutter and trash like discarded food items left inside the victim’s room – and also allegedly housed four other small children.
‘It’s kind of one of those situations where they were just not paying attention,’ she continued in the department’s official statement.
‘The injuries were significant and the child was losing blood at a very high rate.
‘[He] could have went into shock pretty early on.’
While the officer’s statement did not shed much light on the child’s condition, she did say that ‘from what the doctors and nurses told the detectives, [he was] very near to death.’
She revealed: ‘The child had lost so much blood that the child actually had to have blood transfusions as well.
Delania Thurman, the boy’s 25-year-old aunt, had been living at the house with her two own children for approximately four months, cops said
The affidavit also describes the clutter and trash detectives observed both inside and outside the home after arriving at the scene – where they said they found several discarded food items inside the victim’s room
Police Det. Jonathan Helm wrote of how members of the force found the child after receiving a frantic 911 call from David – who allegedly woke up to the grisly scene around 6:30 am, not sure if his son was still alive
The affidavit filed alongside the Schonabaums’ and Thurman’s Monday arrests, meanwhile, provided some insight on the squalid conditions the child was subject to while living at the home South Linwood Avenue – which cops said was rife with trash, rodent footprints, and feces
‘Several fingers had to be amputated.’
Meanwhile, records show a Maglinger Home Based Services caseworker visited the home much more recently – four days before the father dialed 911 – but again, no action was taken.
It also show how an allegation of physical abuse was also made against David in June 2023, and that the claim at the time was even substantiated by DCS.
However, since the family was already getting services at the time of the complaint, the decision was made to continue with the initial services, cops said.
Days earlier, DCS another caseworker traveled to the home, police wrote, and spoke with Thurman – who told her the home had a ‘normal amount of mice’.
The caseworker added that upon being questioned about what appeared to be bite marks on one of the kids’ feet, she denied wounds were caused by rodents.
A few weeks before, early on in the summer, Thurman and her children began living at the home – which David told cops was actually owned by his cousin, and the clan supposedly allowed to live there under the sole stipulation of upkeeping the home.
Gray said that all the children have since been placed in foster care, including the child just released from the hospital.
‘Their excuse was that they did not hear the child cry,’ Evansville PD’s Sergeant Anna Gray explained Friday after the infant’s release, remarking how he was nearly eaten alive
Cops in the town near Kentucky say the trio, consisting of 31-year-old David Schonabaum, 28-year-old Angel Schonabaum, and 25-year-old Delania Thurman, who also lived at the Evansville residence, allowed the incident to unfold
In a statement, she said of the countless neglect cases she’s seen over two decades on the force, this one takes the cake.
‘I’ve been on an officer for 20 years, and we’ve seen some serious neglect cases but nothing where it involved rats feeding off a child,’ Gray said. ‘It’s horrible.’
The affidavit also described the clutter and trash detectives observed both inside and outside the home after arriving at the scene – where they said they found several discarded food items inside the victim’s room.
Also discovered in the room where the infant slept were what investigators identified as a series of rodent foot prints left in blood – as well as rodent feces and several items in the room that appeared to be chewed on.
In other rooms, cops said they found more feces, as well as a series of rat traps and a bait box.
Cops further revealed that the home had a foul odor emanating from both its kitchen and basement, and that the child’s parents had two other children living inside the residence, aged three and six.
Cops said the service also began conducting twice-weekly visits to the family’s home in April 2023, where a caseworker’s notes showed the house at that point was littered with trash, animal feces and dirty dishes.
But, the caseworker wrote at time, the condition of the home was ‘slowly improving’, and no action was sought against either of the parents.
The affidavit filed alongside the Schonabaums’ and Thurman’s arrests, meanwhile, provided some insight on the squalid conditions the child was subject to while living at the home South Linwood Avenue – which cops wrote was rife with trash, rodent footprints, and feces.
Police Det. Jonathan Helm wrote of how members of the force found the child after receiving a frantic 911 call from David – who allegedly woke up to the grisly scene around 6:30 am, not sure if his son was still alive.
‘All four of (the victim’s) fingers and thumb on his right hand were missing the flesh from the top of them, exposing fingertip bones,’ Helm wrote, describing the damage the baby sustained overnight.
‘The damage to (the victim’s) index and pinky fingers were the most severe,’ he added, noting the appendages ‘were missing the flesh halfway down each finger.’
Prosecutor Diana Moers said in a statement last month following Schonabaum’s verdict: ‘This case is horrific, and we will live with the images of this baby forever.
‘It is completely shocking to the conscience that anyone would live in these conditions, much less allow their children, baby, and animals to live among absolute filth when they cannot help themselves.
‘It is also unimaginable how a rat was able to do such damage to this infant before his father called for help.’
