Florida mother-of-two Kayla Oxenham was charged with felony child abuse last week for allegedly branding her two children.
Kayla, a 23-year-old medical assistant, has been under investigation since March. Her children’s daycare workers reported their suspicions of child abuse to the Florida Department of Children and Families after noticing scabs on the 5-year-old and 7-year-old girls.
“The daycare workers did a great job seeing this, reporting it,” Port Charlotte Police Capt. Les Partington told Fox 4.
According to the arrest affidavit, the 7-year-old girl told investigators Kayla branded them with a hot stick so others could identify them as Kayla’s children. She rewarded them with ice cream and allegedly said she “forgot how much [she] loved fire.” The 7-year-old also claimed her mom got so angry when the 5-year-old locked the cat in the bathroom that she kicked the younger child and slammed her head against the wall.
Neighbors said they didn’t know Kayla had children. One woman said she regularly observed Kayla walking around the block at 3 o’clock in the morning.
The children have been placed with a relative. Kayla is out of jail on a $15,000 bond.
