Teen parents let RATS gnaw their newborn baby's face more than 100 times
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
A teenage mum and dad let rats bite their newborn baby's head and face more than 100 times.
The young pair have been jailed after letting their 15-day-old girl suffer so many injuries from the rodents she had to undergo extensive reconstruction surgery on her skull.
Social workers who visited the unnamed baby's home also found her cot filled with blood.
There were bloody rat footprints throughout the rundown property and a blanket that was soaked in blood.
Her parents Erica Shyrock, 19, and Charles Elliot, 18, admitted using crystal meth and K2 in the days before the rat attack .
(Image: Columbia County sheriff)
(Image: Columbia County sheriff)
The parents, from Arkansas, were abused as kids themselves and ended up in care.
Both Shryock and Elliott were sentenced to five years in prison.
They will be eligible for parole after 304 days and begin their terms with 293 days already served.
It's likely the two will be released from custody within 30 days, defense attorney Joseph Churchwell said.
"It's as good as we were going to get," Churchwell said in an interview after the court hearing.
Their defense attorney Joseph Churchwell told Arkansas Online : ‘They should have never been allowed to leave the hospital with the baby when she was born.
Churchwell said. “This is DHS’ [Department of Human Services] fault. Why did they wait until this baby’s face was chewed on by rats?’
The baby, who was born prematurely and weighed a little more than 4 pounds at birth, has now been adopted.