Prosecutor: Day-care worker 'brutalized' baby, broke 19 ribs

A Huntley day-care operator so badly brutalized an infant that after just three days with her the boy had 19 broken ribs, a broken leg, a fractured skull and bleeding inside his skull, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The trial of Eva M. Walton got underway with McHenry County prosecutors outlining a long list of gruesome injuries the boy, at the time about 10 weeks old, suffered while at the Huntley woman's home-based day care.

Nichole Owens, criminal chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney, told jurors the 34-year-old Walton "viciously and violently" shook the boy and slammed his head against her shin in May 2005, causing the rib, skull and leg fractures. She also burned his tongue with an overheated bottle and bruised his penis in an injury doctors believe was caused by a deliberate pinch.

"The facts surrounding the brutalization of this innocent baby are chilling," Owens said.

Walton faces a charge of aggravated battery to a child stemming from the boy's injuries. The boy, now nearly 5 years old, has no lingering effects from those injuries.

If Walton is found guilty, she will face between six and 30 years in prison.

Jurors heard later from the boy's parents, Joseph and Jolyn Schiola, who described discovering the boy's injuries and immediately suspecting Walton.

Jolyn Schiola testified the boy's rib cage "sounded like (cracking) knuckles" when she picked him up after he came home from Walton's for the final time.

"He was broken" she said. "He was in pain."

Owens told jurors Wednesday that weeks after the boy suffered the injuries, Walton confessed to U.S. Secret Service Agent Brad Beeler, who had traveled to Huntley to give her a lie-detector test.

But Walton's defense immediately went on the offensive against Beeler, telling jurors that the agent duped her into a false confession.

Defense attorney Jamie Wombacher said Beeler asked Walton to write down what he instructed as a pretest to the polygraph exam. When she finished, Beeler accused her of writing a confession and called off the test.

"By his trickery and deceit, she was arrested and is here Wednesday facing these charges," Wombacher said. "She didn't confess. She wanted to take that test because she wanted to be able to prove that she didn't cause those injuries. She never got that opportunity."

Jurors also heard Wednesday from a pair of doctors who were the first to treat the boy and diagnose that his injuries appeared to be the result of abuse.