MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa -- A child who was found dead and maggot-infested in a baby swing last year "died of diaper rash," a prosecutor told an Iowa jury.
Four-month-old Sterling Koehn was in the same diaper for at least nine to 14 days when he was found August 2017 in the swing, Assistant Iowa Attorney General Coleman McAllister told jurors Tuesday, according to the Courier newspaper.
The baby’s father, 29-year-old Zachary Paul Koehn, is charged with murder and child endangerment, the Associated Press reports. The child's mother also is charged.
McAllister said Tuesday in opening statements that the baby’s heavily soiled diaper had attracted bugs that had laid eggs, which had hatched into maggots, the AP reports. The resulting diaper rash led to ruptured skin, and e.Coli bacteria set in.
“He died of diaper rash. That’s right, diaper rash,” McAllister said.
Read the rest of the story from the Associated Press.
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