NAPPANEE — The mother and stepfather who were arrested in April 2018 after failing to report their child had been severely abused, have pled guilty.

Rune Star Springer, 26, 9872 E. King Arthur Trail, Cromwell, is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony. Springer entered a guilty plea on Dec. 23, 2019. Her sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 13.

Travis Wayne Tillotson, 39, 1359 W. CR 800S, Claypool, is charged with neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony. Tillotson entered a guilty plea on Thursday, Jan. 2. His sentencing is currently scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 27.

Three additional people involved in this case either have status conferences or jury trials scheduled.

Jammy Stacy, 42, 611 E. Carlton Ave., Elkhart, is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony. She has a status conference regarding this matter at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20, in Kosciusko Superior 1 Court. A 10-day jury trial was canceled.

A two-day jury trial is set for Fayette Robinette, 60, 9462 N. SR 19 Lot 24, Etna Green, regarding this case. She is also charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony. The jury trial is set for Jan. 30 and 31.

Annette Priestley, 50, White Pigeon, Mich., is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, a level 3 felony. She has a jury trial set for 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 27.

On March 2, 2018, officers with the Nappanee Police Department responded to a report of a child in need of services at 1200 N. Main St., Apartment 103, Nappanee. Officers discovered a boy who was injured and in need of medical attention.

Springer, the child’s mother, said she did not cause the injuries to the child as he had been in the care of Stacy for approximately one year.

According to court documents, on March 1, 2018, Stacy and Priestley dropped the child off at Springer’s residence with visible injuries all over his body. Springer said she didn’t call the police because Stacy told her not to, since they would both be arrested for child abuse. Tillotson, the child’s stepfather, was shocked to see the child’s injuries and wanted to get him medical treatment. However, Springer convinced him not to.

The child was taken to Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne for treatment. Medical staff said the child had visible injuries in many stages of healing, showing injuries occurring over an extended time period.

The boy had multiple pieces of his scalp missing and the septum on his nose had been cut out. Both of the boy’s arms were broken in multiple places and his arm sockets were broken to the point where he was unable to raise his hands over his shoulders. He was also underweight and malnourished. His injuries appeared to range from several months old to a few days old.

Officers spoke with a doctor who said the boy’s injuries were life-threatening and were not accidental in nature. The doctor said if the child didn’t receive treatment at that point, he would have died within 48 hours.

In October. 2017, Springer had taken the child to Stacy to live with her. Springer went to Stacy’s residence for an occasional visit, with the last visit being in December 2017.

Stacy said she was the sole caregiver for the child from October 2017 to March 1, 2018. She said the child would spend the night occasionally with Robinette. Timestamps from photographs on Stacy’s phone show that both Robinette and Priestley would have had contact with the boy in the time his injuries were visible and took no action to seek medical help for the child.