A man in Indiana told police he was cleaning his house for his wife’s return, but tragically, he later found their baby son severely injured by rats.
In a police interview from September 2022, David Schonabaum, 32, said he was “trying to be a good husband and make sure the house is clean for her” before his wife came home... Continue reading here ▶
However, while his wife was away, he and his sister-in-law found their baby with horrific injuries.
Schonabaum said his sister-in-law noticed the baby’s injured fingers first.
As reported earlier, the baby had lost flesh from the fingers and thumb of his right hand, with bone exposed at the fingertips.
He also had over 50 bites on his face and other bites on his arms, legs, feet, and toes.
David Schonabaum is now serving a 16-year prison sentence for child neglect of the baby and his two other children. The mother, Angel Schonabaum, pleaded guilty to child neglect, received credit for a year already served in jail, and was given three years of probation.
In the police interview, David Schonabaum said that he immediately thought rats were responsible for the bites, saying “Instantly, it was the rats because that’s the only thing that could have been in that room all night.”
He admitted they had a serious rat problem in the house and claimed he had hired a pest control company (Terminex) to deal with it. He also said that no one else in the house had been bitten by rats before.
