BOONVILLE, Indiana — A southern Indiana couple is facing murder charges after they allegedly failed to regularly feed their newborn son who authorities determined died of starvation.
Caylin Monroe, 23, and Jakob Scott, 22, were denied bail Tuesday during their initial hearings on charges of murder and neglect of a dependent resulting in death. Both are being held at the Warrick County Jail.
Their two-month-old son, Silas Scott, died in February and a final autopsy report by the county medical examiner found the baby died due to neglect in the form of malnutrition and starvation.
The autopsy showed that the baby had nothing in its stomach at the time of its death.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Monroe said her son was born healthy, but admitted to skipping meals and said she sometimes forgot about him if he was quiet.
Monroe told officers that the last time she could remember feeding the baby was after leaving work the afternoon before she died, WFIE-TV reported.
For his part, Scott told detectives that the baby would not eat if it did not cry and that he did not remember if his son had been fed on the day of his death.
The affidavit shows that child welfare officials had previously investigated Monroe due to an incident with another child, after which she was asked to keep a feeding log.
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment Thursday for public defenders for Monroe and Scott.