Parents charged with burning son

Parents charged with burning son

Updated: Feb 28, 2007 11:46 PM
Jennie Runevitch/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - Two parents are facing neglect charges after their son was found with untreated second- and third-degree burns. Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi filed the charges Thursday against Bessie and Mechelle Saffold.

Police say the abuse that went on inside the Saffolds' Indianapolis home should never happen to any child.

"The abuse has continued on and just came to the point where the children were terrified of them," said Detective Genae Gehring, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

Bessie Saffold, 61, and her husband are former foster parents of the year. They're now accused of felony neglect and battery of five children they adopted.

"One of the girls says she was hit on the forehead with a metal rod, which caused a scar. Another boy said he'd been pushed down the stairs, punched in the face and had been whipped with extension cords," said Helen Marchal, Marion County Prosecutor's office.

But the worst case, prosecutors say, involved the youngest boy, so badly burned on his feet and legs, he could barely walk.

According to the probable cause, while Bessie Saffold's children were getting ready for school, she noticed her seven-year-old boy had wet the bed. Prosecutors say to punish him, she put him in a bathtub of scalding hot water.

"We believe that the temperature of the water could have been as high as 135 degrees," said Marchal.

"The child was placed in there at least by his ankles and then was told to sit in the water," said Det. Gehring.

Child Protective Services learned of the alleged abuse after one of the Saffold's children made a call for help. The five oldest were taken out of the home.

Bessie Saffold eventually brought her burned little boy to the Child Advocacy Center.

"He walked in on his feet in that condition, in the condition where we could not touch his legs or his feet," said Gehring.

Emergency crews immediately took the boy to Wishard Hospital. He's now at Riley, getting care for the second and third degree burns which doctors say had been infected and uncared for over three weeks.

All five children looked to Bessie Saffold for a loving family. Police say they found just the opposite.