Joshua Moody and Hannah Wingert (Cheyenne Police Department)
A 20-year-old mother in Wyoming and her 21-year-old boyfriend have been arrested after police say the couple nearly beat her 2-year-old son to death, leaving the toddler with a shattered leg, damaged organs, and bruises all over his body. Hannah Wingert and Joshua Moody were taken into custody last week and charged with one count each of first-degree attempted murder and aggravated child abuse, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Cheyenne Police Department, CPD officers at about 12:36 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23, responded to a residence located in the 500 block of West 6th Street in regard to a welfare check requested on a 2-year-old boy. The caller, who was not identified by authorities, reported to the dispatcher that the victim was “covered with bruises,” saying they were concerned for the baby’s well-being.
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the child and said he had suffered “severe life-threatening injuries which appeared to be the result of physical abuse.” He was taken by ambulance to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center “where he was initially assessed and then life-flighted to Denver Children’s Hospital,” the CPD press release said.
Once at the children’s hospital, doctors were able to confirm that the victim had “multiple broken bones and internal injuries,” police said. Additionally, doctors said the boy had shattered both the tibia and fibula in his right leg and also suffered a fractured vertebrae in his back, bleeding in the brain, pancreatitis, liver lacerations, an acute kidney injury, a broken clavicle, and two popped eardrums.
“The primary encounter diagnosis indicated non-accidental trauma to the child,” the release states.
Investigators said they soon learned that the child was “battered” by by Wingert and Moody, which allegedly caused the life-threatening injuries. The duo were taken into custody on Friday and booked on attempted murder and abuse charges.
Additional information on the circumstances of the toddler’s injuries were provided in a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Cowboy State Daily newspaper.
According to the report, Wingert’s mother told police she picked up her daughter, Moody, and her grandson from a motel on Aug. 23 and she observed that the toddler looked “horrible” with severe bruises covering his face and arms. She also observed that both of the boy’s eyes were swollen shut and he had been fitted with a bizarre “homemade brace” on his right leg.
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After dropping them off, Wingert’s mother reportedly contacted police as well as the Department of Family Services to report what she’d seen.
In an interview at the hospital, Wingert reportedly told police that her son had slipped in the shower and also indicated that the boy would regularly self-harm.
Moody on Aug. 24 called police and claimed that Wingert had “admitted to everything,” Cowboy State reported. In a subsequent interview, he reportedly told investigators that he witnessed Wingert repeatedly punch her son in the head and face.
Additionally, he reportedly said that on Aug. 23 Wingert was beating her son when she grabbed him by both legs and swung the toddler “like a baseball bat from right to left towards the window” of the motel. As she finished the swing, Wingert reportedly only let go of one of the boy’s legs, allowing him to swing around her body before stopping abruptly as he collided with her shoulder. Moody reportedly said he heard the toddler’s leg getting “snapped.”
As the toddler screamed in pain, Wingert allegedly put him on the bed and held her hand over his mouth to muffle the sound of his cries.
Moody allegedly told police he was afraid of Wingert, claiming she threatened to kill him if she told anybody what she’d done to the child.
Wingert and Moody are both being held in the Laramie County Jail and are scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 6.
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