TYLER, TX (KLTV) -
Two East Texas grandparents are in jail after allegedly burning their grand-daughter's feet with scalding water.
Police say 60-year-old Shelley Walker and 54-year-old Kenneth Walker are charged with injury to a child. According to officials, they were the girl's primary caregivers.
The two-year-old girl received second degree burns on her feet and ankles while under her grandparents' supervision.
A week and a half ago police were still combing the scene, working to piece together what had happened.
"This was not a case of where the child was able to get in the bathtub by itself," says Tyler Police officer Don Martin.
According to doctors, the child had to have been held in about 135-degree water for nearly 10 seconds to receive the burns she did.
"The doctor that examined this child is an expert in the area of child abuse and neglect. It was stated by him that this was an immersion burn, that it was not consistent with an accidental burn in bath water and in his opinion is highly suspicious of child abuse," says Shari Pulliam, a spokesperson for Child Protective Services.
"The water was so scalding that there definitely would have been splashing and some burn marks other places, but this was clearly where the child was set down in the water and then picked back up," says Martin.
According to the arrest warrants for Shelley and Kenneth Walker, they both made a series of inconsistent statements to police.
The warrants state, "Shelley Walker has provided approximately seven different accounts of what happened," and "Kenneth also gave a different account of the incident than what his 911 call stated."
CPS says all children have been removed from the home while the investigation continues.
"Three children, the victim and two other children, are all in foster care in the custody of CPS."
The arrest warrant also says the little girl has had surgery for her injuries, but has not been able to walk since.
Both grandparents have bonds set at $250,000.
[Click here to read the arrest documents in this case]
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Shelley Walker. Photo Source: Smith County Jail.
Kenneth Walker. Photo Source: Smith County Jail.
