Boy of 4 killed by stepmother

Warren County's prosecutor says a Franklin woman could spend the rest of her life in prison for the death of her stepson.

Prosecutor David Fornshell said 4-year-old Austin Cooper was held in scalding water for more than 20 minutes.
His injuries were so severe, his heart stopped working and organs shut down, Fornshell said.
His stepmother, 25-year-old Anna Ritchie, is charged with murder.
A Warren County Grand Jury indicted Ritchie on six counts, including two counts of murder, two counts of endangering children, felonious assault and involuntary manslaughter.
"I cry every day. I break down all the time. Having my kids, I still yell for Austin when I yell for them," Austin's mother, Jessica Vanhoosier said. "I feel him all the time."
She said it tears her apart knowing she'll never share another trip to the park or even a hug with her 4-year-old son.
"I don't forgive her. I don't think I ever can or will," said Vanhoosier.
Cooper died last month of hypovolemic shock -- his heart stopped working and organs shut down as a result of burns from being placed in scalding bath water.
"Our best estimate is that the temperature of the water was 134 degrees," Fornshell said. "Just to be in that tub for a period of a minute or two would have to be the most excruciating pain that you could go through."
Fornshell said Ritchie held the child in the water inside their Franklin apartment for 20 to 25 minutes.
"After taking him out of the bathtub, his skin was falling off of his legs. He was bleeding significantly. She placed him in pajamas and socks and put him in bed," Fornshell said.
Fornshell said 17 hours passed before Austin's father, Robert Ritchie, who had been at work when the incident occurred, checked on his son.
By that time, it was too late.
"Had this child been administered treatment within the fist few hours after this injury occurred, the child would've had somewhere above a 95 percent chance of surviving," Fornshell said.
Fornshell said Robert and Anna Ritchie recently became Austin's custodial parents and Anna Ritchie resented becoming primary caregiver.
The hot bath, Fornshell said, was Ritchie's way of punishing a child who hated baths.
"We're going to do our best to bring justice to a child that obviously his stepmother didn't care about," said Fornshell. "It's going to be a difficult case for any jury to sit through."
Fornshell said people they interviewed said Anna Ritchie was rough with the child, but nothing rose to the level of a crime.
Ritchie is currently being held on $350,000 bond on a child endangering charge. She is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges Wednesday morning.