Florida Parents Arrested in 'Worst Child Abuse' Case After Son Found Unconscious in Toilet

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Florida Parents Arrested in 'Worst Child Abuse' Case After Son Found Unconscious in Toilet​

A Florida couple charged with murder after their 6-year-old son, who authorities found unconscious with his head in the toilet, died after spending days on life support. The Osceola County's Sheriff's Office has stated that the parents, Bianca Blaise, 25, and Larry Rhodes, 22, not only murdered their son but had also been abusing their five other children, who were all found with cuts, bruises, and marks on their bodies
Authorities received a call July 5 reporting an accidental drowning at Knights Inn in Kissimmee, Florida, according to CBS 12.

Authorities thought they were responding to a drowning call.
When police arrived at the motel, however, they found a 6-year-old boy unconscious and without a pulse, his head still in the toilet, CBS 12 reported.

Blaise told authorities that her son had his head in the toilet bowl and was drinking water from it. He appeared to have accidentally drowned in the water
The 6-year-old was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
An investigation into the boy's death revealed that he had died from injuries sustained from physical abuse, and his death was not caused by an accidental drowning. Instead, reports indicated, the boy's parents had "beat him with a closed fist" after finding him drinking from the toilet bowl. The cause of his death was later revealed as blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen.

"His parents got very angry because he was drinking out of the toilet and they started to beat him. First the mother beat him. Then the father started repeatedly punching this little boy with a closed fist," Sheriff Marcos Lopez shared during a press conference.

The couple's other five children were taken in for questioning, and authorities discovered they too appeared to be suffering from abuse.​

Authorities alleged that all five of the other children, ranging in age from 5 years old to 10 months old, also were victims of abuse at the hands of Blaise and Rhodes. The sheriff's office shared that all of the children living in their care were malnourished and covered in bruises and other marks.

Investigators were able to match the shape of marks on the children's body to a shoe found in the motel room, which was covered in blood on its sole, the Daily Beast reported.

Two of the children were able to tell investigators about the abuse they all had apparently endured.
During questioning, the 5- and 4-year-olds were able to reveal the cause of their brother's death, as well as share information about their abusive treatment, the sheriff noted during the press conference.

The parents were arrested July 5 on chareges of neglect. After the investigation was completed, the state's attorney on Wednesday charged both Blaise and Rhodes with murder, aggravated manslaughter, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect.

The surviving chilren have been placed in foster care.
Officials have confirmed that all of the children are doing well in foster care, having been placed in the same home.

“We were able to take these kids from these monsters and hopefully they will never see them again,” Lopez said during a press conference. He added that the case was "one of the worst child abuse cases ... any of us up here have ever seen."

 
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