Kentucky grandmother arrested after toddlers found with broken skulls, ribs

A grandmother has been arrested after two very young children were brought to hospital with injuries so severe that police say their lives were at risk.

According to Louisville Metro Police, officers were alerted on Thursday after a two-year-old child was rushed to hospital in full cardiac arrest.

The child was taken there in a private vehicle, with no 911 call made, investigators said. Doctors managed to resuscitate the toddler before transferring them to a hospital in downtown Louisville.

Police say the child had suffered multiple rib and skull fractures, had missing teeth, bruising, internal injuries and signs of malnourishment, reports WHAS11.

As officers worked to understand what had happened, detectives went to a home on Goldenrod Road in Valley Station to check on other children.

There, they found a one-year-old lying on a bed with what police described as ‘obvious signs of trauma’. Emergency medical services were called immediately.

Doctors later told investigators the younger toddler had three skull fractures, a fractured jawbone, bleeding inside the skull, injuries to the eyes and extremely underweight.

Yvonne Shanks, 49, the children’s grandmother, has now been charged with criminal child abuse, assault, wanton endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

She was arraigned on Saturday and is being held on a $250,000 cash bond. A court order bars her from any contact with minor children.

The children’s parents, Nicholas Shanks and Shelby Kuntz, were previously taken into custody by the Louisville police.

According to the arrest citation, both parents told investigators they were the only caregivers for the children.