ANETH, Utah — A woman was indicted on child abuse charges after her three-month-old twins were flown to Salt Lake City due to severe injuries, including a severe brain hemorrhage.
Fayette Whitehorse of Anath was charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse within Indian Country after her twins were airlifted on August 24 from a hospital in Blanding to Primary Children's Hospital.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the babies were brought to the hospital by their parents because the female child "had a limp arm that caused her to cry out in pain." An X-ray showed the child had a broken humerus, with later tests showing a fractured rib and knee.
Because of the child's injuries, doctors screened her twin brother and found he was suffering from a "significant brain hemorrhage," as well as a fracture in his radius bone and ribs.
When interviewed by FBI agents, Whitehorse shared that the twins were born prematurely at 33 weeks and had been kept in the NICU at Primary Children's Hospital for nearly six weeks before being allowed to return home on the Navajo Reservation.
"Eventually, Whitehorse confessed that she would get frustrated with the [twins] because she was with them '24/7' and that she had caused some of their injuries," the indictment states.
Whitehorse said she recalled bending the boys' arm to get him in a car seat, "and speculated she may have bent it too hard." She also told agents that she "aggressively" bounced the boy on her knee "out of frustration" a few weeks earlier.
Later in the interview, she claimed to have broken her daughter's arm by pulling it "aggressively while frustrated."
"Whitehorse also believes she caused [her daughter's] knee fracture while attempting to put her leg into a onesie outfit forcefully and out of frustration," according to the indictment.
