Indiana woman whose baby was mutilated in rat attack receives probation

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — An Indiana woman who pleaded guilty to negligence after a rat attacked her 6-month-old son and left him with disfiguring injuries was sentenced to probation weeks after her husband received a lengthy prison sentence. term.

A Vanderburgh County judge sentenced Angel Schonabaum, 29, to four years in prison Thursday, but gave her credit for the year she had already served and suspended the remaining three years of her probation, the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

Schonabaum pleaded guilty in September to a charge of neglect of a dependent. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a message Friday seeking comment.

Police arrested Schonabaum and her husband, David Schonabaum, in September 2023 after he called 911 to report that the Evansville couple’s young son had been seriously injured by rats in their home, authorities said.

The child suffered more than 50 rat bites and required hospitalization, investigators said.

In September, a jury found David Schonabaum guilty of three counts of neglect of a dependent. He was sentenced this month to a maximum of 16 years in prison on those charges.

An Evansville police detective wrote in a probable cause affidavit that all of the fingers on the child’s right hand were “missing at the top, exposing the bones of the fingertips.”

Paramedics and police found the boy lying bloodied in his crib with severe bite marks on his face, leaving him “permanently disfigured”, prosecutor Diana Moers said.

The Schonabaums lived with Angel Schonabaum’s sister, Delaina Thurman, in a house that investigators said was littered with trash and constantly infested with rodents.

Thurman was sentenced to two years probation after pleading guilty to two counts of neglect of a dependent, according to court records.