It sounded like a house of horrors. A father, mother and aunt in a home with five children full of rat feces and trash. One night, the father found his baby covered in blood in a bassinet, in a terrible true crime story straight out of a horror novel. The reason? Dozens of rats were biting the child.
David Schonabaum, 32, called police in the middle of the night on Sept. 13, 2023 after discovering the grisly scene. In addition to the three adults, a 3-year-old, 6-year-old, 2-year-old and 5-year old also lived in the Evansville, Indiana home.
When being interviewed, Schonabaum told police he’d been dealing with a rat infestation since March. The same month the baby was almost eaten by rats, two of the children told their teachers that they were bit by mice while they were sleeping. This led to a visit from the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS).
During the visit, Delaina Thurman, the sister of Schonabaum’s wife Angel, told DCS the marks weren’t from bites they were probably just scratches from the bedframe. Schonabaum told DCS he was treating the problem with Terminix.
On social media, Angel posted a video showing the deplorable conditions in the home. On one of his own social media posts, Schonabaum wrote a strangely prophetic post: “I avoid shit because I’m afraid of me, not you. Temper go from zero to prison real fast.”
DCS went over a safety plan with the family and had planned to come back on Sept. 14, one day after the rat-biting incident with the baby. It said the family ignored all the requests to clean up the house, even though they were given “5 to 10 reusable rat traps.”
Police found the baby with over 50 bites on his toes, feet, arms, nose and cheeks. On his right arm, the baby had bites from his elbow down to his hand. Some of the baby’s fingers had big pieces missing, with bone exposed. The boy will be permanently disfigured because of the incident.
When authorities found the child they medivaced him to a nearby hospital in Indianapolis. Due to blood loss, the child’s body temperature dropped to 93.5 degrees. He was given a blood transfusion and recovered.
In court, Schonabaum’s lawyer argued that there was no way for Schonabaum to know the rats would get his son, and that if the conditions were so bad in the first place why didn’t DCS remove the children during the visit? That argument was not effective.
This is not Schonabaum’s first run-in with the law. In 2021, he was arrested and charged with possession of meth. He took a plea deal and got a one-year suspended sentence, which he served doing community service and being on house arrest.
After his trial for child neglect, a jury deliberated for less than two hours before handing down a guilty verdict. Schonabaum was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The two other adults in the house were also charged. Angel Schonabaum pled guilty to a lesser neglect charge and two counts of the neglect of a child. She was sentenced to three years probation. Delaina Thurman pled guilty and was sentenced to two years in probation.