Mother of Four “Forgets” To Feed Her Newborn

Mother of Four “Forgets” To Feed Her Newborn

Welcoming a new baby into your life is a joy for many families. You get to watch as they grow, get those adorable chubby cheeks, and document milestones like their first words, their first steps, and their favorite foods that they happily cover themselves in. But the little boy in today’s story didn’t get to reach any of these milestones. In fact, unless he cried, his parents often forgot about him. And unfortunately, this led to the disaster that we’re about to cover today.

Our story today is still developing and unfortunately, it didn’t get a lot of media coverage. With this in mind, the story had to be pieced together via what little clues we could find utilizing a singular affidavit, sparse local media coverage, and social media, which our subjects had no shortage of.

23-year-old Kalin Opel Monroe was a young mother of four that spent the bulk of her life living in the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana, just outside the Appalachian region. However, the bulk of today’s story takes place in Boonville, Indiana, a small town just north of the Ohio River, where the biggest main attraction is the local Walmart.

Now looking at pictures of Kalin, it was clear that she held true to a style more commonly seen in the previous decades. She enjoyed the flamboyant hairstyles and dark eyeliner that was popular in the early to mid-2000s emo scene. Kalin became a mother pretty young and her first son, Liam, was born in 2016, followed by Oliver in 2019.

While searching her social media, she appeared to be in a relationship with a man by the name of Ryan Hartwell, although in some profiles he’s listed as Clayton. And during this time, her sons were born. However, news reports indicate that there’s an active juvenile paternity case open with regards to both Liam and Oliver.

Eventually, Kalin met and, according to her social media, became engaged to 22-year-old Jacob Chance Scott, with whom she had two more kids: a daughter named Winter in 2020, and finally a son named Silas in 2021. The two lived in a mobile home at 3844 Honeysuckle Drive in Boonville. The two both worked at a local Taco Bell where Jacob worked as a night shift manager.

For a young family of six, times were tough. The fast-food service industry famously doesn’t pay well enough, and the couple appeared to have only one vehicle, as evidenced by the fact that Kalin would often pick Jacob up at work at 3:45 a.m. with the kids in tow. The couple also had a few run-ins with the law and social services, such as possession of an illegal substance and contributing to the delinquency of a minor as recently as January of 2022.

Kalin had also previously been investigated by social services for an incident regarding her daughter, Winter, after she was brought to the emergency room for being underweight. She was referred to Ireland Home Based Services and was made to keep a feeding log to prove to her caseworker that Winter was being cared for appropriately.

Things were also not looking good for Silas, who was born on November 22nd of 2021. Even being a few months old, Silas wasn’t starting to grow into a typical chubby baby. Although there are indeed some kids that are simply small, Silas was uncharacteristically tiny. Kalin’s mother, Brandy Monroe, as well as her friend, Gracie Hudson, both voiced concerns to Kalin regarding Silas’s size.

Kalin agreed that her son was a little small and might have some sort of underlying condition, but never made it a priority to take him to be seen by a pediatrician to find out what was wrong. The night of February 14th, 2022, was much like a lot of nights in the Monroe-Scott household. Jacob went off to work his closing shift at the local Taco Bell, and Kalin set off to pick him up with her three youngest kids in tow at 3:45 the next morning, arriving home at around 4:00 a.m.

All seemed fine, and the family went to bed, waking up at around 12:30 p.m. on February 15th. And this is when tragedy struck. When Kalin went to get Silas out of bed, she found him unresponsive and not breathing. He was on his back with foamy saliva coming out of his mouth. She screamed for Jacob to wake up, and the couple called 911 and began administering CPR in an attempt to save their son.

When paramedics arrived, it was quickly determined that Silas could not be resuscitated, and he was declared dead. Little Silas was only 85 days old.

From February 15th to April 21st, detectives took over the case and began scouring over the couple’s Facebook records. As we discussed earlier in the episode, the couple had a sizable social media presence, with Kalin having several different Facebook accounts. Just days prior, police received Silas’s final autopsy report from Dr. Christopher Kiefer, who determined that the little boy died from starvation and malnourishment.

With these findings in hand, Sergeant Kyle Tvalt of the Warrick County Sheriff’s Office asked Kalin and Jacob to come down to the station to review what was discovered. Kalin admitted that Silas was born small but healthy and had difficulty growing. She stated that she would make bottles of formula and feed him 6 oz every 2 to 4 hours, with an additional 2 oz if he was still feeling hungry. She admitted that she had been confronted by her friend Gracie and her mother Brandy regarding Silas’s size, but never sought medical assistance to rectify the situation.

When confronted with the evidence that Silas had been starved to death, including the fact that nothing had been found in his stomach during his autopsy, Kalin became defensive, claiming that she fed him before they left for Taco Bell. When pushed further, her story began to unravel, and she admitted that she on occasion missed feeding times, citing that she was too busy to feed her son, and further admitted that she hadn’t actually fed Silas before they left for Taco Bell.

Kalin stated that she couldn’t remember if she had fed him after she got off of her own shift at 4:30 p.m. the previous day, and had no idea if Jacob had remembered to feed him. Kalin was part of the WIC program, so she always had formula at her disposal. This was not a matter of not being able to afford formula, nor was the formula shortage going on at the time of her story.

She claimed that it was Jacob’s duty to care for the kids during the day while she was at work, and that she was in charge of it at night. She admitted that if Silas was sleeping, she would let him sleep and didn’t bother to wake him up for feedings unless she felt worried. When pushed as to why she didn’t get medical care for Silas, but sought medical care for herself, she finally admitted that she should have done more for her son and that she had hoped she could get his weight up by herself.

Kalin also thought that she should have gotten more help from her support system, even though her own mother and her friend made comments about her son’s size, and finally admitted that she was too scared to seek help for Silas out of fear that social services would remove all of her kids from her care. The remainder of the interview included Kalin blaming doctors for making her feel scared and then her pinning the blame on Jacob for forgetting to feed Silas.

Sergeant Tvalt’s interview with Jacob went very differently, with the father quickly breaking down into tears when he was questioned. He agreed that it was his responsibility to care for the couple’s four kids while Kalin was away at work, and that he too would not wake Silas for feedings if he was asleep. He also admitted that due to this, he’d often forget to feed Silas, as he only fed him if he was crying, and sometimes Silas wouldn’t even take his formula.

According to Jacob, he admitted that he knew that things were getting bad enough where law enforcement would get involved if they took Silas to the hospital, and that he was scared for that to happen. After further questioning, he admitted that he knew that if they did not seek help, his son would die.

On April 26th, 2022, Kalin Monroe and Jacob Scott were both arrested and charged with homicide and neglect of a dependent resulting in death. The couple are being held without bond at the Warrick County Jail. There are conflicting reports regarding their attorney status, with some sources stating they’ve yet to find representation, while others have stated that they’re being represented by public defenders. Kalin had a hearing on May 9th to set her trial date, whilst Jacob’s is scheduled for October 18th.

Silas Chance Kent Scott, also known to his family as Sugar Bear, was laid to rest at Freedom Cemetery in Boonville, Indiana. In his 85 days here on Earth, he only knew hunger and pain.

We talk about CPS failing with some regularity, and I feel like this applies in Silas’s case. Kalin had been cited prior due to not feeding her daughter, Winter, who was born the year prior. There was even a caseworker involved who had to review her feeding schedules. So, why is it there wasn’t a review of the whole family when Kalin continued to have more kids? Additionally, Silas had initially been seeing a family medicine/obstetrics physician named Dr. Jennifer Simino, who had reported to Kalin that her son was 2 lbs underweight. If this had been seen in Winter prior, and Silas was already showing signs that he was being neglected, then why wasn’t this reported to social services?

Kalin’s mother knew something was wrong. Kalin’s friend knew something was wrong. You’d think they’d at least suspect that something was amiss after what happened with Winter. However, they failed to act, and Silas is gone. We need to do better. We say this all of the time, but if you see anyone that’s in danger, especially someone that cannot advocate for themselves, please, please make that call. You could save someone’s life.

Remember the case of Silas. In this case, only two people other than CPS knew what was going on and could have made that call. If you know something about someone’s son or daughter that is being mistreated like this, you might be the only person that has that information, therefore making you the only person that could help save their life. Please keep that in mind.

Additionally, if you’re a parent and you’re having trouble being a proper guardian to your kids, please reach out for help before it’s too late. Silas’s death was completely avoidable. Since the story is still developing, there hasn’t been any news coverage which states what happened to Kalin’s other three kids. However, just by poking around social media, it appears that Kalin’s mother, Brandy, does have custody of them. But we’ll keep an eye out for any updates and update you if anything comes along.

It was kind of heartbreaking to me to find that there were barely any articles on this case. We really had to dig. So, if a case like this is something the media just isn’t covering, how often is this happening where we’re not hearing about parents starving their kids to death? I don’t know.

Hey guys, we’re going to take a short break to tell you about the sponsor of today’s episode, and then we’ll come back for some updates. This week’s episode has been brought to you by Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes for everyone who loves learning and wants to explore their creativity and learn new skills. If you have a specific skill you’re trying to learn, then Skillshare is the perfect place to start. They have photography, illustration, graphic design, and more. You can find classes that can match any of your goals and interests. I’ve been looking into the YouTube-specific courses because it’s always great to sharpen your skills. And I personally have been taking a class on Adobe Premiere so I can make better videos for all of you. Already, I’m learning so many new things that I never knew before. The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a one-month free trial of Skillshare. Click the link in the description right now and get inspired today. Thanks, and back to the episode.

For those that wanted updates on Prada, she is still her very hungry, very mouthy self. She is currently napping during the time that we recorded this, so unfortunately, you didn’t get to hear from her today, but we will post pictures of her. We did get to reduce her insulin dose a little bit, and hopefully, she continues to progress, but we’ll let you know as things move forward with her.

I’ll just keep this really quick. Thank you to everyone that’s donated to the GoFundMe. This means the world to both of us. You have really made a difference in helping us be able to give our little bean the support and care that she deserves. And if you’re looking for more consistent updates on what’s going on with her, you can find that at our GoFundMe link down below.

We also have a very wonderful group of people supporting us on Patreon. I will put their names up right now. I want to say welcome to four new patrons: Jill, Nikki, Penny, and Katrina. Special shout out to our Levi tier patrons: Levi, Holly, Chaka, Amelia, Laura, and Casa de Kadejo. There’s their lovely pictures right now. Special shout out to our highest tier Patreon supporter, Kiki. There’s her lovely picture right now. Here’s a picture of a painting that Kiki made for us. It is a soot sprite in honor of Kitan, who we miss very much. It is hanging proudly in our living room. Kiki is wonderful. Thank you so much for all the support. Thank you so much. I love it. It even has googly eyes that move. There’s Halls and Dolls, Holly’s mask store. If you want access to the best quality masks we’ve ever worn, Holly’s Etsy link is down below. But until next week, we love you. We love you. Bye-bye.