Teen mom arrested after baby found with puncture wounds

Nassau County deputies charge 17-year-old with aggravated child abuse

CALLAHAN, Fla. – A young Nassau County mother is charged with aggravated child abuse after her baby was apparently injured Friday while unattended in her yard.

Aubrey McKenzie Stinchcomb, 17, was arrested after a deputy was called to a report of a baby wandering on Friday in a neighborhood south of Callahan. He found the baby wearing a T-shirt covered in blood in Stinchcomb's arms, according to the Nassau County Sheriff's Office.

The deputy said the 1-year-old girl had several puncture wounds and cuts all over her body. The deputy also noted there was a large dog in the yard. According to the report, the baby was wearing only a shirt -- no diaper, pants or shoes -- and the cuts were consistent with being dragged through the yard.

A witness told deputies he saw the baby tangled in the dog's leash and ran to the door of Stinchcomb's home attempting to get someone to come out, but no one came to the door. That person did not have a cellphone and flagged down another person who saw the baby on the ground with the leash wrapped around her neck. 

The second witness, Richard Brookins, said the dog wouldn't let any anyone close to the baby, so he ran to the house and beat on the doors and windows until a young woman came to the door and picked up the baby.

"When I banged on the door, I couldn’t get anybody to answer. So I beat the fool out of the window. I woke the young lady,"  Brookins said. "She was crying right off the bat. I didn’t see the baby move until she got her hands on the baby and then I saw the baby move. She was so distraught about the kid."

According to the arrest report, Stinchcomb went inside and called her boyfriend's mother, but not 911 to get medical assistance for her child. 

Deputies called for medical assistance and the baby was taken to Baptist North. There was no official condition on the child, but the baby was expected to be OK.

Nassau County Animal Control was called for the dog, which deputies said was a bull mastiff mix, and the Florida Department of Children and Families was notified to begin an investigation.

Neighbors told News4Jax that the dog is loving and always playful with the little girl, and they think the dog was protecting her. One neighbor said DCF was told the wounds on the baby were from injuries from the yard, not bites from the dog.