Police: Nashville Couple Charged After 'Urine-Soaked' Infants Found under Trash Bags in Car
A man and woman from Nashville were arrested Wednesday after police found their twin infants freezing in soiled diapers underneath bags of garbage inside a vehicle.
Crystal Cramer, 33, and Christopher Smith, 34, were taken into custody by officers in Versailles, Ky. and charged with first-degree wanton endangerment and first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12.
Cramer, in whose purse police say they found methamphetamine, was also charged with first-degree possession of methamphetamine and promoting contraband.
Crystal Cramer (Photo: Woodford County Detention Center)
According to Lt. Michael Fortney of the Versailles Police Department, officers received a call from the Speedway gas station off of Bluegrass Parkway around 3 a.m. Wednesday regarding a broken down vehicle that had been at the business for hours.
After arriving and talking with Cramer and Smith, officers learned the couple had their 6-month-old twins in the backseat of the car, which was piled high with trash bags of clothes and other items.
"They had mentioned their children, and further investigation revealed they were actually in the car," Fortney said. "The officers couldn't see inside the car because of all the stuff piled up."
Inside the vehicle, which had been turned off for hours in below-freezing temperatures, officers found the infants in their car seats covered in bags.
Their hands and feet were purple from the cold, Fortney said, and the children were "urine-soaked" from not having their diapers changed.
The couple told officers that they would stop and check on their children "every 50 miles," though it was unclear whether the family had been traveling directly from Nashville, a 200-mile trip.
The infants were taken into emergency custody by law enforcement and have since been placed into foster care in Kentucky, where they will remain.
As of Wednesday, Cramer and Smith remained in the Woodford County jail under $10,000 bonds each.
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