2 charged with rape of newborn
The Jackson (TN) Sun
McKenzie police have charged two Carroll County parents with raping their child.
Jonathan Wayne Goodrum, 19, and Kristina Louise Sawyer, 18, are charged with raping their 1-day-old girl before she was taken home from McKenzie Regional Hospital about six weeks ago, said McKenzie Police Lt. Tim Nanney.
While both parents have been charged, Sawyer's bond was reduced because police still are investigating what role, if any, she played in the possible rape of her child, Nanney said. She was charged because "I could not exclude her from being part of it, so I had to charge her also," he said. "I could not exclude her at the time from being a participant of it."
Nanney said hospital officials notified police of the possible rape after noticing injuries to the child's rear during a routine examination given before newborns are released from the hospital. "There were some skin tears in and around the private (back) area of the child," he said.
The investigation led to the child's parents, Nanney said, and there was no indication that any hospital worker was involved in the incident.
"Based on the investigation, we ruled out everyone but the mom and the dad," Nanney said.
The Tennessee Department of Children's Services has placed the baby girl with a relative, Nanney said. The parents are not allowed to have contact with the girl, who is now about 6 weeks old.
The couple was engaged to be married and was living at the Value Inn Motel on Highland Drive in McKenzie at the time of the incident. Sawyer is a McKenzie native, and Goodrum also has relatives living in Carroll County, though Nanney did not know his hometown.
Goodrum is being held in the Carroll County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. Sawyer's bond was reduced to $5,000 after her arraignment. Nanney did not know if she still was being held or had been released.
While no trial date has been set, Nanney said one probably would not occur before September.
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