Odessa stepmom accused of beating 3-year-old with wire hanger

An Odessa woman was arrested this week on accusations that she beat her 3-year-old stepson with a wire hanger.
Amanda Leigh Kelly, 24, was arrested Thursday on warrants charging her with three counts of injury to a child — family violence, a third degree felony, in connection with the reported abuse of the boy who was at one time struck across the face this month for talking back to her.
Kelly, 909 W. 26th St., was being held Friday at the Ector County Detention Center on $45,000 bond.
Staffers from the Texas Tech Health Science Center alerted Odessa Police Department authorities Wednesday that the boy suffered bruising on his face, buttocks and left ear. The boy also had bruising in a crisscross pattern on his arms “which were consistent with the crisscross marks from being inflicted with a wire hanger,” the OPD reported.
OPD detectives learned that on Feb. 16 the boy suffered bruising to the right side of his face for reportedly talking back to Kelly, who police said was caring for him at the time. Four days later, on Feb. 20, Kelly reportedly admitted to OPD detectives that she gave her step-son “the spanking of his life” with a wire hanger because he urinated on the floor, the OPD reported.
Kelly was suspected of spanking the boy a second time with the wire hanger on Feb. 21 because the child urinated on the floor again, police said.


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OPD NEWS RELEASE: Odessa Police charged Kelly on 2-23-17 with three counts of Injury to a Child (Family Violence), a 3rd Degree Felony. On 2-22-17, Odessa Police responded to Texas Tech Health Science Center in reference to an injured child. Investigation revealed that a 3-year-old male sustained bruising on his face, buttocks and left ear.
The child also had crisscross marks on his arms which were consistent with the crisscross marks from being inflicted with a wire hanger. The child also had crisscross bruising which was also consistent with being inflicted with a wire hanger. Investigation revealed that the child’s step-mom, identified as Kelly, was caring for him.
On or about 2-16-17, the child sustained facial bruising to the right side of his face when Kelly struck him on the face because the child talked back to her. On 2-20-17, Kelly admitted that she had given the child the “Spanking of his life” with a wire hanger, because he peed on the floor.
Further investigation revealed that on 2-21-17, Kelly again spanked the child with a wire hanger because he had peed on the floor a second time. Based on the facts and circumstances presented during the investigation, OPD detectives obtained three injury to a child warrants for Kelly, who was charged accordingly.