Mistreatment of a child is always a horrible event, but there is something extra horrific about what this child suffered. A 14-year-old girl who suffered from cerebral palsy was pronounced dead on April 11, 2022 after she had been severely neglected. Reports are now showing just how horribly this family neglected their disabled daughter.
Videos by Wide Open Country
Family Neglected Disabled Daughter To The Point That Her Legs Started Rotting
Heather Baynard suffered from cerebral palsy. Her brother was her live-in, paid caretaker, however his care did not seem to be enough. The NY Post shares that the teen died at the age of 14 back in 2022 in the "absolute worst case of child neglect." According to WYFF 4 "her father carried her cold, gray, listless body into a local hospital like a sack of potatoes." However if you thought the neglect started there you are wrong. That was just one event in this house of horrors.
When poor Heather was taken in for an autopsy the results were truly horrific. Her legs had rotted so badly "that one trial witness said they looked like raw meat." It would take many months of neglect for her legs to reach that stage. The mother, father, and 21-year-old brother were all convicted of "murder and other crimes associated with the teen's gruesome death."
A Real Life House Of Horrors
The abuse and neglect of a child is horrendous in any situation, but Solicitor Barry J. Barnette points out another factor that makes this case specifically so horrific. He states, "And to have that little girl in that situation where she can't escape — she's totally dependent on them." Imagine being mistreated and physically not being able to move or get away from it.
Her family was hit hard with the charges surrounding their maltreatment of their daughter. The NY Post reports "David Baynard, 55, and Bobbie Joe Baynard, 45, of Gaffney, were sentenced to life in prison for murder — as well as 20 years for infliction of great bodily injury upon a child, with another 10 tacked on for neglect." Her brother was convicted of the same crimes. He was given "30 years for murder, 20 for inflicting great bodily injury and 10 years for unlawful neglect."
This unfortunate ending was a result of years worth of neglect. This family neglected their disabled daughter long before the day she died. Staff from the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center recall that her parents were unresponsive when she was brought in in very poor conditions. A NBC affiliate reported that they just sat in the waiting room "playing on his [the father] phone as doctors worked on his dying daughter."
The scene at home also showed signs of neglect. Garbage was piled several feet high across the home. As well as "urine and animal feces from 40 malnourished, flea-infested pets." It seems that poor Heather was not the only living thing to be neglected and mistreated in the home. The feces is what lead to infection in Heather's skin and contributed to her rotting legs. Doctors and coroners testified that they had never seen anything as bad as poor Heather was.
