Magalia couple arrested after infant child hospitalized with severe burns
Above: Jeremy Laye (L) and Jennelle Laye (R) / Butte County Sheriff’s Office
MAGALIA — The Butte County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Magalia couple on suspicion of child abuse after their baby was admitted to the emergency room.
Deputies responded to a local hospital on the evening of October 9, where a 16-month-old child had been brought to the emergency room with severe burns. The child was later transferred to a Sacramento-area children’s hospital and is expected to recover.
Investigators determined that the child’s parents — Jeremy and Jennelle Laye (ages 47 and 39, respectively) — had left their three children at home with a juvenile babysitter and, at some point on the evening of October 8, the child was burned as a result of a spill.
They further determined that when the Layes returned home the next morning, they waited about 14 hours to take the child to a hospital, fully aware that the burns were life-threatening.
On October 20, both were arrested and booked on suspicion of felony child abuse.
