Midweek Mini | Indiana Mother Starved Baby Described as Looking Like “Holocaust Survivor” | Christin Donat

On November 6, 2024, a severely malnourished baby was hospitalized

On November 6, 2024, a severely malnourished two month old baby was rushed to Evansville, Indiana hospital after a worried roommate decided they had to take the baby in. The child’s mother, 26 year old Christin Donat, refused to seek medical care for her own baby. The roommate took the baby in while the mother was at home resting after her part time shift at the Dollar General. Welcome LaM. Welcome to Love and Heartbreak, to Homicide, your midweek mini edition. Hi, my name is Ky and if you’re new here, take a seat, take a listen all the way to the end, and if you like it, don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any more cases if you’re a returning LaM, as usual. Thank you so much for joining me over and over again. You don’t even know how much that I appreciate you. We’re going to get back to the episode, but be patient with me as we get some housekeeping out of the way. If you didn’t know, you can also subscribe to Love and Murder on our Patreon. Patreon.com loveandmurder if you’re not ready to be a sponsor of Love and Murder yet, which as a sponsor you get bonus episodes, you get case extras. So if the case has videos of the trial, pictures of the crime scene, et cetera, you get all of that. You also get intro free episodes and commercial free episodes. So none of this, it goes directly into the case. That’s what you get for being a sponsor of Love and Murder, starting only at $3 a month. But if you’re not ready to do that, you can actually join the Patreon for free and still get certain benefits. Patreon.com uh, forward/loveandmurder.

Authorities say Christin’s baby would have died without medical intervention

All right, now the housekeeping is done, let’s get back to our midweek mini. So when the roommate took the baby in, remember, this baby is only two months old. The infant weighed six pounds, uh, six ounces, which was two pounds less than than his birth weight. His condition was so dire that medical professionals compared him to a Holocaust survivor, describing his body as emaciated with skin hanging loose from his bones due to starvation, malnutrition and dehydration. The baby had a sunken face due to severe temporal wasting and was so weak that he wasn’t even able to cry out loud. Had it not been from the intervention of Christin’s roommate, authorities say the child would not have survived. Sheriff Nora Robinson said, quote, this child was literally starving to death. The hospital’s own testing could not Replicate the child’s inability to digest food. Once he was being fed properly, he quickly gained three pounds in a matter of, uh, days. When questioned, Christin said that she was feeding her baby one ounce of formula six times a day. Lies. But that he frequently spit up lies and struggled to gain weight. Lies. However, hospital staff found no medical reason for his weight loss. Their tests showed the baby had no digestion issues and showing no medical issues that prevented him from absorbing nutrients. Basically, Christin was a lying liar who lies a fricking lot. She also told police that she took the baby to a pediatrician, but skipped the follow up appointment that would have monitored his weight. She said she was, oh, quote, overwhelmed with work and life, but failed to take action when it became clear her son was deteriorating. Ma’am, you have a part time job and one child. You’re overwhelmed. Really? Well, okay, I have a suggestion to you then. Since the part time job and one child and, I don’t know is just too much for you, give the child to someone who isn’t too overwhelmed to care for him. Then literally just do that. Funny thing, though. You’re not too overwhelmed to care for yourself. Funny how that works, huh? Huh? She admitted to knowing her baby would have died without medical intervention, to which, if I was a police officer, I would punch a dent in her throat right when she said, oh, um, you know what? That’s why I’m not a police officer. Sheriff Robinson said, quote, her statements to the police and sheriff’s office provided a contradictory description of her level of care, leaving us with no other conclusion than she was being deliberately indifferent to the needs of the child. Can you imagine just sitting there watching your child waste away? You selfish C word. Ugh. Uh, the department of child services immediately removed the child from Christin’s custody and placed him in foster care, where he continued to gain weight normally. Oh, my God. Shocking quote. This rapid improvement was a clear sign of neglect. It wasn’t a medical issue. It was a failure to provide basic care. On, uh, November 22, 2024, following an investigation, Christin was arrested and charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent, resulting in serious bodily injury. She was held at Vandenberg county jail on a $25,000 bond while awaiting trial. I mean, if it was me, her bond would be all the money in the world. One billion. Something like crazy. Or just no bond at all. During her November 2024 court hearing, Christin pled guilty to the child neglect charges. The prosecution sought a strong sentence, arguing that her actions almost killed an infant from starvation. Yeah, which how would the defense come back at that? I didn’t see any defense, but it’s just, I’m just wondering since they always got something to say, you know what I’m saying? I mean, I know it’s their job, but I don’t know. I couldn’t be a defense lawyer based on these kind of cases. If it was a moral case, like you could tell this guy was innocent. There was facts back, yeah, I could be a defense lawyer, but this, I, I couldn’t defend this. No. Now, shockingly, despite the severity of the neglect. Look, you might want to sit down for this. I’m just, I’m just letting you know because, and get away from anything that you can flip over. Because I would flip a table over. I almost flipped the table over. So you just sit down in the middle of the room away from anything that you can break. Despite the severity of the neglect, the judge suspended her prison sentence instead sentencing her to three years per charge to be served on, uh, probation. The judge also issued a strict no contact order with her child, which will be reviewed by state child welfare authorities. Christin is also supposed to attend mandatory parenting classes and supervised visits. Are you freaking kidding me? It’s not that she didn’t know how to parent, is that one, she didn’t effing care. Two, she was too lazy, and three, she didn’t effing care here she watched the baby starve, uh, almost to death. He looked like he was a holocaust survivor. They said, you know those pictures, this is what a two month old look like. And you want to put this son of a, um, beep in freaking mandatory parenting classes and give her supervise visitation? Oh, I just wonder when action will be taken. Is it after the baby starves to death next time? Like if you give that baby back and that just lets him starve to death, Is that when you’re going to take action? I can’t even, I can’t even. The decision to allow probation instead of prison time sparked outrage in everybody, including Ky. Many legal analysts pointed out that similar child neglect cases have resulted in decades long sentences. So what the frick was going on with this frickin frickety Frick judge? For example, a, uh, macabre County, Michigan mother was sentenced to 27 and a half years in prison for starving her infant to death. But I guess the difference is the infant actually died. Another case in Warren County, Indiana, a parent received a 40 year prison sentence for a similar case of criminal starvation. Now I have to look this one up because I don’t know if the child starved to death. And I’ll probably do an episode of these two cases. So I don’t know if this child starved to death or not, but basically, these two parents got substantially more severe punishments than this woman. Public reactions to the lenient sentence were mixed, which you already heard. Ky’s public reaction. While some argued that rehabilitation was the best course of action, others felt that Christin’s indifference to her baby’s suffering warranted a, uh, harsher penalty. Yes, I freaking agree. Sheriff Robinson said, quote, we’ve seen other parents face far steeper consequences for similar crimes. This case deserved serious prison time, and it’s disappointing that it didn’t happen. I agree with you, Sheriff Robinson. I agree with you 100%. For now, Christin’s child is safe in foster care, growing and thriving under proper care. Hopefully, the court’s lenient rulings won’t put that child back in the care of his mother and back in harm’s way.

I’m going to put out a poll asking what you think about this case

Now, what did you think about this case? You heard my thoughts. And I can’t even go on with my thoughts because all I’m going to end up doing is just screaming at this microphone, but you heard my thoughts. I want to hear your thoughts in, uh, the comments below. I’m going to put out a poll in the Patreon and on the Spotify. So if you go to the Patreon, you can see the poll for free. It’s going to be for everybody. Patreon.com loveandmurder or you can also do it into Spotify because apparently it’s working now. But my question is going to be, do you think she could be rehabilitated or do you think she deserved a harsher punishment? So those are going to be the two options there. So choose whichever one that you agree with and also leave your thoughts in the comments below and I will read it in another episode.

Yes, I do push my Patreon because this is my job

And speaking of your comments, I have one comment from a previous Wednesday episode. This one was from the episode of Eliasard Monet, which in that episode, if you were part of the LAM Patreon, you would have heard me speak, um, French Creole in there. But I didn’t put it out for the free episode. And you do get that. You just get quirky benefits, uh, just at the starting at the $3 a month tier. Patreon.com forward/loveandmurder and before you say anything, yes, I do push my Patreon because this is my job. I literally work like 10, 12 hours a day on the podcast, so I know some people have problems with me pushing the Patreon. This, uh, is my job. I mean, you go to work and you do your job. I don’t come to your job and be like, you know what? I, I have a problem with you answering those phone calls all day. So this is my job.

Indiana Father attacks wife with Tire Iron Murders three month old son

Anyway, the episode was Indiana Father attacks wife with Tire Iron Murders three month Old son. That was another episode that made me want to flip desks over and throw my computer out the window. And if you didn’t hear that episode, the link for that is in the show notes below. And if you want to hear the extras that I didn’t take out of the episode, then join the Patreon. Patreon.com loveandmurder. You could do that starting out at the $3 a month tier. You’ll get the case extras for that one. But anyways, Black Ivory said and hi Black Ivory, I haven’t heard from you in a while. But then again, uh, you usually respond on Spotify, which I’m not telling you to stop, but usually respond on on Spotify and the comments weren’t coming in as they’re supposed to, but it looks like it’s working now, so love hearing from you, Black Ivory. Anyway, Black Ivory said, wow, this is why I believe in an eye for an eye. There’s no punishment for this kind of thing. Don’t let it live on a life sentence. Dismiss this from the earth asap. Sorry the baby and mother suffered at the paw of this beast, but at least he took his own and not someone else’s. I’m not justifying it. I’m just saying, don’t come from me. I understand what you’re saying. Basically what she’s saying is at least he killed his own kid and not another kid. I mean, that does sound bad, but I don’t know what to say to that. Um, and she did say, she did point out that she wasn’t justifying it. She was just, she’s just saying. But yeah, I mean, my thing was, even if he was deported, either way, if he was, if he remained here, if he was this deported, this dude, like, he needs to have a harsh penalty. Like, what he did was freaking crazy. He showed no freaking remorse. He doesn’t care. He’s not repentant of it. Like, oh, uh, that case really, really pissed me off. So if you haven’t listened to it again, the link to it is in the show notes below. Listen to it. You can still leave your comment and I’ll still read your comments in a future episode. Anyway, that is all I have for you today in this midweek Wednesday. Thank you for listening. Thank, uh, you for joining me. Thank you for being a LaM. Don’t forget that if you like the retelling of this case, um, I’m not saying the contents, but the retelling of it, go ahead and leave me a five star review on whatever platform you’re on. If you’re on a platform that you can leave a review on, that’ll be greatly helpful to me. Other than that, I will see you in the next episode. Bye.