LEBANON, Ohio -- The Franklin woman accused of killing her stepson by placing him in scalding hot water was indicted on six counts total Monday, including two murder charges.
Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell held a news conference Monday to discuss the charges against Ritchie. He said Ritchie "recklessly endangered" her 4-year-old stepson Austin Cooper, "resented becoming the primary caregiver" and had "a rough parenting style."
Fornshell said Ritchie placed the 4-year-old's legs in scalding water, approximately 134 degrees, for 20-25 minutes.
"By all accounts, Austin didn't like taking baths -- no 4-year-old does -- but on this particular occasion, in order to teach him a lesson -- she decided to run scalding water in the bathtub," he said.
@WCProsFornshell : Half of his body was substantially burned, skin was hanging off. @WCPO
— Kristen Swilley (@KristenSwilley) April 18, 2016
Fornshell said the Warren County coroner ruled Hypovolemic shock -- the loss of blood and fluid -- as Cooper's cause of death.
The prosecutor said Cooper had a "95 percent survival rate" had he been taken to a hospital. "This was completely treatable injury," Fornshell said.
According to Chief Russ Whitman, police officers and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to Boulder Drive in Franklin around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, where they found Austin in a crib. He was not breathing.
Austin's father called 911 after finding the boy in bed Wednesday morning.
“I think my son died,” the father said on the call. “He got into a hot bath last night with my wife and she thought he’d be OK.”
Ritchie admitted to placing Cooper's legs in hot water "as punishment" in a video arraignment three days after his death. She was charged with felony child endangerment as the court considered more severe charges (watch the video below).
Ritchie faces 15 years to life in prison for the murder charges alone. She was charged with murder, felonious assault, involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering children.
"Anna Ritchie is pure evil," Sheri Gredig, Cooper's grandmother, said the week of his death. "She deserves to spend the rest of her life in prison, if not the death penalty."
Ritchie will be arraigned Wednesday morning.
