Natalie Hill found dead in crib with over 100 rodent bites

[ImmortalOne]

I understand that better than you know IO, you have no idea how I was raised and under what conditions because of the ole' mighty dollar as my father used to say. When it comes to the livelihood of your children tho you don't leave them to live in a rat infested house. I let you in on some insight. As a baby, my little sister almost choked to death on a fucking huge roach that crawled into her baby mouth, had she not been sleeping by my mother should would have died....hell, she almost did. I will never forget that night and that was a roach, I can't imagine a rat, a fuckn' rat! And as much as I feel for these parents and most sincerely do as losing a child the way they did us inconceivable----they should have moved out of the rat hell hole.

Btw, they are moving in with relatives now....just a little too damn late.

Love, you know I know some of what happened, and I am never gonna discount it. However the ever mighty dollar for these young parents is a huge thing. The mother said she didn't know it was that bad, I tend to think it was also their age, poor knowledge and common sense as well. However where were those family members 6 months ago (who I am sure knew about the rat problem). I bet they didn't offer their home then.

Poverty stalked this couple, they were trying to do right, they were trying to provide. I have lived in some really fucked up shit holes in my quest to provide for my kids when I was younger (hell older than these parents). But one of the main things is a roof over their head (which they tried to do) and to keep up with cleaning and such (which they apparently did) and of course food and such (doesn't seem to be an issue).

Just asking that you not judge them so harshly.

[Silvahalo]

Read all my posts. I think you will find I have been fair. And even if you don't that's OK, it's my opinion and no one has to like it.

I am moved to tears for these parents, unbelievable grief they are feeling. If I meet them I would want nothing more than to ease their suffering but nothing will really change what has happened. The only hope is they learn from what went wrong and to remedy it. They still have a child they must provide for. And I do agree that one can be under such circumstances that you are left to live in a shit hole, but I will say as I did, baby should have been guarded for her life, in the room with her parents by them. In this case co-sleeping might have just saved her life.....just maybe.

I'm not so much judging them but defending Natalie who is dead.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Silva, while I appreciate where you are coming from, I can't say a bad thing about the parents at this point.

There is obviously a huge rat problem all over there. The city is giving out poison to help. I have never heard of such a thing. It must be nasty bad in the city.

There is nothing that says the cousins home does not have rats, too. Maybe they are moving into a cramped overcrowded situation because they can't bear to be in the house where the baby died. It is not necessarily a good move.

These people may not have had the money to afford anything but another place that had the same rat problem as other homes in the city. It's not like there is a bunch of well tended affordable housing available there these days - both due to the economy and Katrina after effects.

After Katrina, New Orleans area renters experienced housing cost burdens at a significantly higher rate than before the storm, with rent increases far outpacing the increases in income levels.

http://www.gnocdc.org/HousingAffordability/

From the report there:

The effects of Hurricane Katrina on housing affordability in the New Orleans area were more dramatic for renters than for homeowners. In 2004, 48 percent of New Orleans metro renters were paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs (including utilities), but by 2007, 54 percent were in unaffordable housing.

I have lived in places with vermin. I always thought it was "safe" and "temporary". I did what I could to prevent and protect, but never in my wildest dreams would I think a rat would attack or kill a baby. Even if I had known a rat could kill a baby, I would have stayed and taken additional precautions until I could make or afford other arrangements. And I don't feel I was in any way negligent because I found a rat or cockroach and didn't move out immediately.

It would be wonderful if all children could be raised in happiness and sunshine. That is just not realistic and it is not necessarily neglectful.

[ScribbleMuse]

After reading all the additional info and seeing the pics, here is what I feel now...

I think the parents are terribly young. I think that they had no idea the horrible thing that did happen could have happened. I think that they should have had the babies in bed with them, but I also think that it was not done for convenience as we see so often, but more from a terrible ignorance.

I think about stuff sometimes in terms of all the mistakes *I* have made as a person and as a parent, and how many of them could have ended up tragically. Especially when I hear of a story that seems to be a terrible consequence of a stupid mistake that may never have been even thought about if this had not happened. I don't think that the parents could have conceived that a rat could get into the baby's bed, assuming she had a regular crib. I think that this has devastated them, and I do not think that any sort of abuse happened.

Again, yes, I think they should have had the children with them, or moved into the relative's house earlier, but I am more of a belief that there should be no further punishment if in fact the investigation clears them of former abuse, as it looks like it might. These folks will be paying for the rest of their lives, and suffer more terribly than the most horrid child abusers that we see/hear on these forums.

So, unless something else shows up, and by looking at the pics, by reading the interviews and other information available now, I will be praying just as hard for the parents as I am the children still involved. This is a period of utter hell, and the publicity is going to make it much worse before it gets better. I think that every one of us here is willing to admit that this could have been tragically prevented so easily, but also that this is a case where unfortunately the poor decision led to a death of a beautiful child.

BTW--I don't think anyone here was ever disrespectful. Everyone was discussing the first impression, which is understandable considering the evil that we are used to. I personally felt at first that the story was highly suspicious, and immediately thought of all the ways that things could have been prevented--but I bet the parents and family are thinking those things even harder now. :( Hindsight is 20/20, and I thank God that none of my mistakes ever resulted in such horror.

I hope that this will light a fire under SOMEONE's butt. I'm ignorant when it comes to the government and the actual responsibilities that they either assume or should assume, but personally I think that NOLO is devastation on a scale too great to leave the helpless and the ones who are unable to do anything else except survive every day. People who are working thier tails off, trying to make a living in such conditions, and who are trying to build their communities AND take care of their immediate families. Those are the ones that need to be helped.

[Silvahalo]

Silva, while I appreciate where you are coming from, I can't say a bad thing about the parents at this point.

There is obviously a huge rat problem all over there. The city is giving out poison to help. I have never heard of such a thing. It must be nasty bad in the city.

There is nothing that says the cousins home does not have rats, too. Maybe they are moving into a cramped overcrowded situation because they can't bear to be in the house where the baby died. It is not necessarily a good move.

These people may not have had the money to afford anything but another place that had the same rat problem as other homes in the city. It's not like there is a bunch of well tended affordable housing available there these days - both due to the economy and Katrina after effects.
http://www.gnocdc.org/HousingAffordability/

From the report there:
I have lived in places with vermin. I always thought it was "safe" and "temporary". I did what I could to prevent and protect, but never in my wildest dreams would I think a rat would attack or kill a baby. Even if I had known a rat could kill a baby, I would have stayed and taken additional precautions until I could make or afford other arrangements. And I don't feel I was in any way negligent because I found a rat or cockroach and didn't move out immediately.

It would be wonderful if all children could be raised in happiness and sunshine. That is just not realistic and it is not necessarily neglectful.

Right, right and right DV.

I know I'm coming off as some "indignant" ranter who does not have a real care to have compassion for these people, but you would be wrong on that. My outrage is for the baby who died. She should not have died this way, dear lord.... and I can see where things if they'd been done differently, this might have been prevented from happening. But then, I'm not a young parent who is struggling to get by with two kids in deplorable conditions.Where do you run when the city is overrun with infestation? run to the hills?

I see RED when it comes to death of children, I am sickened in my heart in ways that will never change, for the children who die from abuse. Sometimes, I know, I can get blinded by that RED and have trouble seeing the complete picture. As things are panning out on this story it does appear these parents deserve nothing more than comfort and compassion for what played out that night. I am used to putting myself in the victims place. I forgot in this case, the victims appear to be the parents too. I cannot completely imagine the horror of finding my baby that way. I think I would have gone mad. My heart breaks for them. Breaks.

Rest in peace baby Natalie....sometimes when it rains, it pours. Kisses sweet one.

[OMalley]

I am sick with horror over this story. I feel sorry for the family (and of course, the dear baby.)

[Silvahalo]

....."It's breaking my wife's heart," 21-year-old Robbie Hill told WRNO 99.5 FM.

Hill said that his other child, a 14-month-old boy, has been taken by Child Protective Services because of the conditions of his house.

"I did know they had a rat problem. I was doing what I had to do. I put out pellets, poison and traps," Hill said in the interview. "They should have trapped up that rat before it did what it did to my baby girl."

Natalie Hill was found dead in her crib at the family's Westwego home around 7 a.m. Thursday. She was covered in hundreds of bites, and there was blood all over her crib, police said.

When asked why he didn't move his family out of the house, Hill said, "I lived in that house over 18 years ... I watched my mother die in that house. Who wants to stay jammed up in one room, jammed up with their kids? We were doing what we had to do."
[...]
"We're unsure right now if the bites were the cause of death or if the baby expired before and the bites happened after," Westwego Police Chief Dwayne Munch said Thursday.

If the child died because of rat bites, both parents could face criminal charges.

Hill said the infant was not sleeping in the same room as the parents, but was instead in another bedroom with the 14-month-old boy.

Hill also said he and his family are no longer living in the house.

"We moved out. The cops said we aren't allowed to come back there," Hill said.

Autopsy is expected sometime early next week. Their toddler was asleep in the room with the baby....hmm. If baby cried at all I'm thinking the toddler would have woke to the screaming, unless baby was already dead before the rat in which case leave open more questions. The 14 mo. obviously was not attacked by this rat(s), I'm thinking the milk left on babies lips alerted the rat as someone has posted on that possibility.


Source

[Chaindrive]

When asked why he didn't move his family out of the house, Hill said, "I lived in that house over 18 years ... I watched my mother die in that house. Who wants to stay jammed up in one room, jammed up with their kids? We were doing what we had to do."

What?

Does he mean he didn't move because they could only afford a studio?

Nevertheless, rat problem notwithstanding, it looks like they took care of the house. It looks tidy. I feel so sorry for them.

And rat problems can occur anywhere (I've had rat problems myself in the past).

[rebel450]

This is very sad, I can not even imagine this happening to anyone. Unfortunately rats are nasty, but they can be gotten rid of in different ways. We had 2 last year that decided to chew in under our deck where our kitchen floor was. I was fortunate enough to see one pop his head out when I went out to feed the squirrels. They had chewed a hole big enough for them both to live in. We got rat poison and poured in the hole and blocked the hole. They were dead by the next day. They came from an old factory about 5 blocks down that was knocked down.
I understand they were not able to afford a better place. But safety provisions should have been in place for these 2 children. They would probably be sleeping in the same room with me. Specially knowing that they had rats. Rat poison can be dangerous to use. But you have decide what is worse.

[Peeperann]

I haven't even been able to post in this thread, it horrifies me like you wouldn't believe. I had a nightmare about this last night. Rest with God sweet baby girl.

[April]

I don't know what to say. I want the autopsy report.

I thought the same thing. Shit! I can't imagine that poor baby being bitten over 100 times by friggin rats. I am totally having nightmares tonight.

*shivers*

[piXyNinjette]

My youngest son's father lives in westwego and he has never complained about a rat problem where he lives... so i wonder if it was just the house they lived in? Plus Westwego is one of the few places that was not flooded during Katrina.... so they cant use that as an excuse

[sleepingwithghosts]

They probably came from the flooded areas to the dryer places.. that would explain the rat problem.

[ImmortalOne]

Rats will move to higher ground away from water. Just like they will run to higher ground on a sinking ship till they run out of ship.

[coffee achiever]

This time in Louisiana:

http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stor....6733c015.html

WESTWEGO, La. – Blood loss due to the attack by a rat or rats appears to be the cause of death of the three-month-old girl who died last week in a Westwego home, according to a statement by Jefferson Parish Forensic Pathologist Susan M. Garcia.

The official cause of death on the statement was "exsanguination due to destruction of soft tissue secondary to murine activity."

Authorities had been trying to determine whether bites occurred while the child was alive or dead.

Natalie Hill was found in her crib by her parents covered with rat bites Thursday morning in the 700 block of Central Avenue.

The parents of Natalie, Robby Hill and Casey Lane, found her in the her crib after they fed her last, according to Westwego Police Chief Dwayne Munch, adding that emergency calls were placed to authorities between 7 and 7:30 a.m.

When EMS and police arrived at the house, Munch said, they found Natalie, a large amount of blood and hundred’s bites on her body – including flesh being removed from her nose and the bottom of her leg. Bloody prints from the crib resembled a large rat.

...

Lane defended herself publically after the death of her daughter in a Times-Picayune video, saying, “It hurts, it feels like a piece of me is gone and it’ll never be back.”

“I just wish people would stop and realize that I’m a good parent. My husband is a good parent. I never meant to put my child in any kind of danger. If I had known it was that bad, I would have never even lived there.”

Munch said the home was cluttered, though not necessarily dirty, but he said the structure had several problems.

“Holes in the wall, holes in the floor,” he said. “It’s an older home. It’s not something you would want to be raising a family in.”

[coffee achiever]

Oy. Duplicate post. Mods, can someone merge it in with the other? My bad.

[CountJackula]

Another one?!?!?!

[Pete Bondurant]

I once ate a rat.

[coffee achiever]

Autopsy concluded that the rat bites are what killed her.

http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/s...d.php?p=264222

Sorry for the duplicate thread - can someone merge them?

[Silvahalo]

WESTWEGO, La. – Blood loss due to the attack by a rat or rats appears to be the cause of death of the three-month-old girl who died last week in a Westwego home, according to a statement by Jefferson Parish Forensic Pathologist Susan M. Garcia.

The official cause of death on the statement was "exsanguination due to destruction of soft tissue secondary to murine activity."

Authorities had been trying to determine whether bites occurred while the child was alive or dead.
[...]
The curator for Audubon Zoo, Rick Dietz said rats can be very destructive and aggressive, but it would be very unusual for the rodents to attack a live baby.

"The more likely scenario would be if the baby was dead already that the rats would bite on her," said Dietz. "If she was alive, they probably would not because of the screaming and kicking and all that the baby would do."

It appears she was alive when she was attacked..., I was hoping this was NOT the case...so distressful to think about it this way. She was alive, christ.....I still I wonder why didn't anyone here Natalie cry out? how?

Source.

[thequeenofsorrow]

this pic breaks my heart... that she suffered in any way

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=25778156


oh this is so sad too
"Laine's mother, Lisa Normand, today blamed the couple's landlord, Charles Dufrene, who is Robby Hill's stepfather. Normand said Dufrene got money to repair the house after Hurricane Katrina from FEMA but made no repairs."

and i dont know what to think about this

"There also will be a benefit dance and dinner on Aug. 2 from 1-7 p.m. at the Westwego Fireman's Hall to raise money to help the couple find a new home. The couple moved out of the rented house on Central Avenue after Natalie's death and the building is being examined by Westwego building inspectors to see if it needs to be condemned."

[thebooblady]

So, basically, they ignored her cries and their baby was eaten alive by rats. I hate them. I'm sorry, but no matter how poor you are, you don't have your children live in a rodent infested home.

[Silvahalo]

So, basically, they ignored her cries and their baby was eaten alive by rats. I hate them. I'm sorry, but no matter how poor you are, you don't have your children live in a rodent infested home.

I know, its just horrific. I could never allow these conditions with my children. I know they have hardships and the conditions of much of the city are deplorable, but we are talking about rats, not ants which would still be a problem.

I don't know about ignore, but how could they NOT hear her cries, how? Unless they were shit faced and high, I seriously do not understand. I would imagine the investigation will continue, and I very much would like more answers.

Queenofsorrow, that picture breaks my heart too. Baby brother no longer has a little sister. Everyone loses, especially baby Natalie.

[crickett]

1st of all poor little angel. she was so beautiful

2nd of all what the fuck kinda comment is this on this picture
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=25566435

it says "SHE LOOK JUST LIKE ME LOL RIP"

that sounds like a nut how do you LOL and RIP in the same sentence

sad because they actually seemed like they wanted her did you see the baby shower pics?
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=21629403


http://www.myspace.com/cutemom51108

"LOL RIP"...sounds like a comment from a person still in shock....
How horrible....I was hoping that she was dead before the rats got to her. But I know that dead persons and animals do not bleed....no pump to send the blood out. So it was likely that she was alive. They should have had her crib next to their bed.
I would have had her crib right next to my bed given the rat problem. But I actually had my childrens cribs all in my room until they were maybe 6 or 7 months old. The first time that my oldest slept for 6 hours at a time, I awoke absolutely TERRIFIED....rushed to her crib, to see her blissfully asleep...little angel.....but I had to go breast pump....thought my tits were going to fall off

[ImmortalOne]

.... That baby died.... because of the fucking rats. Is it at all possible SIDS was involved first? There aren't usually signs of SIDS... right?

Okay I am just grasping at straws... This makes me ill. Truly ill.

Even now we put Nezzy down and let her cry it out, after trying the Attachment Parenting... I am wondering if that is what they were trying to do. Even now when we put Nezzy down she sounds like she is being murdered and used to have what was like panic attacks... it took me 13 months to get her to sleep in her own bed....

[Nell]

I agree IO. I am hoping that she died or was dying of SIDS when the rats got to her.

[ImmortalOne]

I am starting to like that "Truth Box" on some of those MySpace profiles...

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The coroner's office would not discuss whether the baby bled for a long time or whether an artery was struck, causing massive bleeding immediately. Authorities said it appeared that rats had gnawed on Natalie's nose and right leg.

The news came as the infant's parents, Robby Hill and Casey Laine, waited at the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Justice Center in Gretna to find out whether their 14-month-old son would be released from state custody.

After hours of discussion, hearing officer Salvador Mulè decided Wednesday to delay a decision on whether the boy should be placed with the couple or their relatives and friends. The case will resume Tuesday, and the boy will remain in state custody while officials visit relatives' homes to determine whether they are suitable.

Laine and Hill lost custody of the boy after Natalie died. The couple has said they were aware of rat problems around the home and heard rats scratching in the walls of the house. However, Laine has said they never saw the rats inside the building, and several family friends agreed.

http://www.nola.com/news/?/base/news...930.xml&coll=1

[smallwonder4]

And the 14 month old was in the same room sleeping? The killer rats didn't go after him at all? What a weird story. I just have more questions with every update I see.

[jwilson2m5]

The Jefferson Parish Coroner's Office has released preliminary findings in the death of 3-month-old Natalaie Hill. It says, "Exsanguination due to destruction of soft tissue secondary to murine activity." Authorities say that means the infant bled to death from rodent bites. Stay tuned to WWL AM & FM and WWL.com for the latest