In the days leading to her death, 4-year-old Emma Thompson suffered 80 contusions, a fractured skull, a brain hemorrhage and a vaginal tear.
About 12 to 24 hours before she died, the Spring girl was hit in the abdomen by an “unknown object,” causing blunt force trauma that killed her, according to court records filed by investigators and made available on Tuesday, the same day Emma's mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33, and her boyfriend, Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, made their initial appearance at a bail hearing.
Young and Coe are charged with one count each of injury to a child after their explanation of Emma's fatal injuries didn't square with the beating and sexual abuse she apparently endured over the course of several days.
Coe was ordered held without bail. Young was released Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail.
In an arrest warrant affidavit filed by Harris County homicide investigator A.J. Kelly, Coe and Young gave conflicting statements about what had happened leading up to Emma's death.
Her bruises, including one on her face, were first noticed in early June by her father, Benjamin Thompson, who separated from Young in April. At a court hearing last month, he said Emma's sisters and his estranged wife told him that Emma caused the bruise by walking into a patio table.
According to Kelly's affidavit, Thompson said he told Young to take Emma to a doctor “or he would.”
The girl's pediatrician examined her June 8. The doctor found Emma had “oral and vaginal herpes, along with bruising inconsistent with explanations offered by Abigail Young” and contacted Child Protective Services. Tests came back positive for herpes on June 11.
No sign of abuse June 12
A CPS investigator contacted Young, who was then a registered nurse at Woman's Hospital of Texas, and asked if she were the only adult living in the house with Emma and her sisters. Young said she was, CPS officials have said. She also told CPS that her daughter might have come into contact with someone with herpes at a local YMCA.
According to Kelly's affidavit, however, “Lucas Coe began an intimate relationship with Ms. Young and became a frequent overnight guest at Ms. Young's residence beginning June 2009.”
After CPS talked to Young, Emma was taken on June 12 to Texas Children's Hospital for a sexual abuse exam. There was no sign of sexual abuse, and CPS allowed Emma to remain home. CPS officials have said that herpes does not automatically prompt a removal because in rare cases genital herpes can be contracted in a nonsexual manner.
But sometime between that June 12 exam and her death on June 27, Emma suffered more bruises, a total of 80, according to the Montgomery County medical examiner, along with the skull fracture and sexual abuse as evidenced by a “tear and hemorrhaging to the vagina extending from the area of the hymen, which was not intact.”
The officer's affidavit said that at 8:56 p.m. June 27, Young called 911 to report her daughter was not breathing. It is believed that she made the call from her car a few blocks from her home, because the ambulance met Young at her car at 9 p.m.
Emma was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital.
Young stood before a magistrate Tuesday with her arms folded, looking in Coe's direction and shaking her head.
Coe, in an orange jail jumpsuit, sat behind a post out of camera view until his name was called. He stood solemnly before the judge, head down.
CPS removes children
Calls for comment, made to relatives of Young and Coe, were not immediately returned. It's not clear whether Young is still working for Trinity Medical Center.
“She's worked one shift,” said John Simms, president and chief executive of the hospital's corporation, Trinity Health Services.
Emma's sisters, along with two other Montgomery County children Coe has had contact with, have been taken into custody by CPS. Emma's two sisters, ages 6 and 11, have been placed with her paternal grandparents.
The two other children, a 4-year-old girl and an older boy, are in foster homes.
“The investigation is still going on in both cases,” said Gwen Carter, CPS spokeswoman in Houston. “We're still doing our investigation and working with law enforcement.”
About 12 to 24 hours before she died, the Spring girl was hit in the abdomen by an “unknown object,” causing blunt force trauma that killed her, according to court records filed by investigators and made available on Tuesday, the same day Emma's mother, Abigail Elizabeth Young, 33, and her boyfriend, Lucas Ruric Coe, 27, made their initial appearance at a bail hearing.
Young and Coe are charged with one count each of injury to a child after their explanation of Emma's fatal injuries didn't square with the beating and sexual abuse she apparently endured over the course of several days.
Coe was ordered held without bail. Young was released Tuesday after posting $50,000 bail.
In an arrest warrant affidavit filed by Harris County homicide investigator A.J. Kelly, Coe and Young gave conflicting statements about what had happened leading up to Emma's death.
Her bruises, including one on her face, were first noticed in early June by her father, Benjamin Thompson, who separated from Young in April. At a court hearing last month, he said Emma's sisters and his estranged wife told him that Emma caused the bruise by walking into a patio table.
According to Kelly's affidavit, Thompson said he told Young to take Emma to a doctor “or he would.”
The girl's pediatrician examined her June 8. The doctor found Emma had “oral and vaginal herpes, along with bruising inconsistent with explanations offered by Abigail Young” and contacted Child Protective Services. Tests came back positive for herpes on June 11.
No sign of abuse June 12
A CPS investigator contacted Young, who was then a registered nurse at Woman's Hospital of Texas, and asked if she were the only adult living in the house with Emma and her sisters. Young said she was, CPS officials have said. She also told CPS that her daughter might have come into contact with someone with herpes at a local YMCA.
According to Kelly's affidavit, however, “Lucas Coe began an intimate relationship with Ms. Young and became a frequent overnight guest at Ms. Young's residence beginning June 2009.”
After CPS talked to Young, Emma was taken on June 12 to Texas Children's Hospital for a sexual abuse exam. There was no sign of sexual abuse, and CPS allowed Emma to remain home. CPS officials have said that herpes does not automatically prompt a removal because in rare cases genital herpes can be contracted in a nonsexual manner.
But sometime between that June 12 exam and her death on June 27, Emma suffered more bruises, a total of 80, according to the Montgomery County medical examiner, along with the skull fracture and sexual abuse as evidenced by a “tear and hemorrhaging to the vagina extending from the area of the hymen, which was not intact.”
The officer's affidavit said that at 8:56 p.m. June 27, Young called 911 to report her daughter was not breathing. It is believed that she made the call from her car a few blocks from her home, because the ambulance met Young at her car at 9 p.m.
Emma was pronounced dead at 10 p.m. at Memorial Hermann-The Woodlands Hospital.
Young stood before a magistrate Tuesday with her arms folded, looking in Coe's direction and shaking her head.
Coe, in an orange jail jumpsuit, sat behind a post out of camera view until his name was called. He stood solemnly before the judge, head down.
CPS removes children
Calls for comment, made to relatives of Young and Coe, were not immediately returned. It's not clear whether Young is still working for Trinity Medical Center.
“She's worked one shift,” said John Simms, president and chief executive of the hospital's corporation, Trinity Health Services.
Emma's sisters, along with two other Montgomery County children Coe has had contact with, have been taken into custody by CPS. Emma's two sisters, ages 6 and 11, have been placed with her paternal grandparents.
The two other children, a 4-year-old girl and an older boy, are in foster homes.
“The investigation is still going on in both cases,” said Gwen Carter, CPS spokeswoman in Houston. “We're still doing our investigation and working with law enforcement.”
