Funeral arrangements are set for today for Austin Derrick Cooper, 4, who died last Wednesday after his stepmother allegedly dipped his legs into scalding hot water.
- Visitation is scheduled for noon today at Herr-Riggs Funeral Home
- Funeral service is scheduled to follow at 1 p.m.
- Anna Ritchie, the stepmother, is in Warren County Jail
FULL REPORT
A visitation is scheduled for noon today at Herr-Riggs Funeral Home, 210 South Main Street, Middletown. A funeral service is scheduled to follow at 1 p.m.
The grandmother of the 4-year-old boy who died after his stepmother allegedly placed him in a bathtub of scalding hot water said the actions by the adult were incomprehensible.
“There’s no punishment that you could do to a 4-year-old to kill him,” said Sherri Gredig, the boy’s maternal grandmother. “What could a 4-year-old do to get scalded to death?”
The grandmother of Austin Derrick Cooper spoke at a video arraignment for Anna Ritchie on Friday in Franklin Municipal Court. The judge kept bond at $350,000.
Ritchie, who is in the Warren County Jail, could have more charges filed against her, according to police.
Detectives continue to conduct follow-up interviews and will meet sometime this week with Warren County prosecutors to review the case and determine what additional charges may be filed against Ritchie, according to Franklin Police Chief Russell Whitman.
The boy’s mother, Gredig’s daughter, lives in the Lebanon area, she said.
Neither the father nor mother were in court Friday.
“He was just a big teddy bear,” the boy’s grandmother said. “He loved to make fish-lips.”
A neighbor, Logan Million, said when Anna Ritchie was removed from the residence and taken into custody Wednesday she showed “no emotion.”
Million said she has a 2-year-old son and the news of Austin’s death was difficult to comprehend.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “That’s horrible. It’s really sad. It really is unreal.”
Austin Derrick Cooper’s death was ruled a homicide, according to Warren County Coroner’s Office.
Whitman said the child did sustain third-degree burns, and Anna Ritchie reportedly admitted to officers she had put his legs into the burning water as a form of punishment.
Austin Derrick Cooper’s father found the 4-year-old in his bed Wednesday morning after he said his wife gave him a hot bath, according to a 911 call.
“He got into a hot bath last night with my wife and she thought he’d be OK,” Cooper’s father told dispatchers. “I think my son died.”
Cooper was transported to Atrium Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10 a.m., according to Warren County coroner’s investigator Doyle Burke.
