Mother indicted for abusing infant daughter

Daphne Waters, 20, of Toledo, was indicted on two counts of felonious assault and two counts of child endangerment.Her daughter, Logan Wilson, suffered severe injuries in the Aug. 25 beating, and Erie County deputies initially suspected she might die.She has almost no brain activity whatsoever as a result of her injuries."She's not on life support, she's not in a coma, but she has little-to-no brain activity," Erie County Chief Deputy Jared Oliver said. "She requires around-the-clock care."Medical experts have little hope that Logan's condition will improve, Oliver said.The infant was rushed to Firelands Regional Medical Center emergency room Aug. 25 after sustaining life-threatening injuries at her Scott Street home in Sandusky.From there she was flown by medical helicopter to a Toledo hospital, where staff immediately suspected her injuries stemmed from child abuse.She suffered two distinct brain hemorrhages, a broken rib, a broken femur and a detached retina, according to Erie County deputies.Hospital workers called social workers, who then contacted Sandusky police.Police, in turn, issued a two-sentence police report that same day."I was contacted by the on-call children's services worker of a possible child abuse incident in our city," a Sandusky police report said. "This incident will be investigated."Three weeks later, Sandusky police — waist-deep in a triple homicide investigation — handed off the case to Erie County deputies. They immediately went to work, interviewing Waters, as well as Logan's father and a neighbor who sometimes babysat for the couple.All three of them had access to Logan.Under questioning, all three told deputies they had no idea what happened to Logan. After repeated interviews, deputies couldn't get anyone to budge.But doctors made it clear — someone had severely beaten Logan.Deputies eventually whittled down the list of suspects to two: the mother and the father.In the end, deputies conferred with Erie County prosecutor's office, and decided to present the case to a grand jury.The father and Waters both testified before the grand jury, but only Waters was indicted."The mother was the primary caregiver," Oliver said. "The father was always working. In her testimony, she said the father was never with the infant alone."Deputies never figured out exactly when the abuse happened.Doctors said the injuries were in various stages of healing, which means the abuse had been ongoing and repeated. That is why Waters was indicted on two counts of each charge.She was in the Erie County jail on $120,000 bond late Friday.Daphne Waters