2 students are among 3 people killed in a house fire

GREENWOOD — A school district in western Arkansas said Wednesday that two of the three people killed in an early morning house fire were students.

Greenwood Police said in a Facebook post they responded to the fire shortly after midnight, and did not immediately release the names or ages of the victims. A fourth person has been hospitalized from the fire with life-threatening injuries.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, and crews were still processing the scene Wednesday morning, police said.

Two of the people killed in the fire were students at Greenwood Public Schools, the district said.

The district said it had arranged for counselors to be available at each of its campuses.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to the families involved, as well as to our dedicated staff and students, as we navigate this sorrow together,” the school said in a statement.

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BEEBE — Two Beebe residents are facing charges related to a baby being taken to the hospital with a brain bleed and bleeding in the eyes.

Warrants were issued earlier this month at the request of the 17th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for Benjamin Lee Altman, 28, of Beebe on charges of class Y felony battery in the first degree and class B felony battery in the first degree and Taylor Olivia Free, 20, of Beebe on a charge of class B felony permitting abuse of a minor.

Altman and Free, who is listed on the jail roster as being from McRae, remained in the White County Detention Center on Wednesday on $25,000 and $200,000 bonds after being arrested Aug. 28 and are scheduled for plea and arraignment in White County Circuit Court on Tuesday.

Their arrests followed an 18-day-old being sent to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock from Unity Health-White County Medical Center on Aug. 26 with a head injury.

“Unity Health had called in a report to the Arkansas State Police Child Abuse Hotline due to the fact the initial medical evaluation indicated signs of the child being shaken,” White County Sheriff’s Office Detective Blake Ellis wrote in the affidavit, adding that the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Team for Children at Risk confirmed the eval-

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uation. “A few injuries initially noted were subdural hemorrhage (brain bleeding) and bilateral retinal hemorrhages (bleeding in the eyes).”

Altman and Free were interviewed at the sheriff’s office Aug. 27. Free reportedly said that she and Altman were “the only two in the home at the time the child had received the injuries,” but she “initially denied any knowledge of how the child had received the injuries.”

Eventually though, she reportedly said that she had seen Altman “shake the child on several occasions.”

“She was then provided with a doll to represent the child,” Ellis wrote. “She held the doll by the shoulders and demonstrated Mr. Altman shaking the child and stated that she witnessed the head moving back and forth unsupported.”

When asked if she had attempted to stop Altman from shaking the child, she reportedly said she “told him verbally to stop a few times.”

Ellis added that when she was “asked why she never reported it, she states, ‘I don’t know,’ and shrugs.”

After he initially also said that he didn’t know how the injuries had occurred, Altman reportedly said that “he had memory issues and it’s possible he had shaken the baby but didn’t remember.”

“He then states, ‘With my own two eyes I have never witnessed my arms shake the baby like that,’” Ellis wrote.

When asked if Free could be lying, Altman reportedly responded, “No, I don’t think she would be lying.” When asked if there was “a pretty good chance it happened” if Free said it did, he reportedly responded, “It’s a pretty high chance, I just I’m not aware if I’m doing it.”

Altman reportedly dismissed the suggestion that Free could have caused the injuries, saying, “Any injury, that is probably because of me.”

Ellis wrote that medical staff also advised him that the infant had a skull fracture, which “indicates an impact injury” in addition to being shaken.

A Searcy 27-year-old also facing domestic battery charges involving an infant reportedly told a White County detective concerning one of the infant’s injuries, “I love him so much sometimes I get carried away.”

A warrant was issued for Dawn Marie Nelson earlier this month on charges of class Y felony domestic battery in the first degree and class C felony domestic battery in the second degree. Nelson remained in the White County jail Wednesday on a $40,000 bond. She is also set for plea and arraignment Tuesday.

Nelson’s arrest came after a child abuse hotline report was received by the sheriff’s office Sept. 12. An X-ray taken after the child was taken to the hospital Sept. 7 showed that the child had “multiple rib fractures already in stages of healing.”

It was determined at Arkansas Children’s Hospital that a “chronic medical condition that required the infant to be hospitalized for several months after birth” was not the cause of the injuries because it “does not affect his bones,” Detective Sidney Marini wrote in the affidavit.

Instead, the hospital “determined the injury was consistent with trauma.”

While the child was in the hospital for the rib fractures, a bruise was seen on the infant’s face that was not there when the child was admitted.

“It appeared over night when Dawn Nelson was the only person in the room,” Marini wrote. “Hospital staff indicated that none of the tests would have caused an injury to the infant’s face.”

As the primary caregiver, Nelson was interviewed at the sheriff’s office Sept. 19. She reportedly said that the child “began to cry … at some point after the infant had been released from his last hospital stay.” She also reportedly showed how “she walked over to the infant and placed her hands on the infant’s side as he laid on his side,” then she “used her body weight and applied a crushing motion downward onto the infant.”

Nelson reportedly said that “she did not seek medical attention for the infant” after the incident.

As for the bruise on the infant’s face, she reportedly said that she pinched the child, before making her statement about loving him “so much sometimes I get carried away.”