Miller County mom charged after baby burned

A 25-year-old Lake Ozark woman was charged Tuesday with three felonies after her 6-month-old child was flown to a hospital with severe burns.

Miller County prosecutors charged Elizabeth G. Austin with one count of first-degree child endangerment with serious physical injury, one count of first-degree child endangerment with substantial risk of injury and one felony drug possession charge. Bond was set at $100,000. She was arraigned Wednesday, according to online court records.

Lake Ozark Police Department officers were sent to Austin’s apartment Sunday afternoon on a report of an infant that had been burned in a bathtub and found the baby with severe burns from her waist to her head, according to a probable cause statement.

Austin told police she had left the baby in the bathtub while she tried to get her 4-year-old child, who was walking around the apartment with a knife, under control, according to the statement. Austin said her 2-year-old daughter, who was in the bathroom with the baby, pushed the baby’s tub under running water and turned the faucet to hot water, according to police.

The baby was flown to the University of Kansas Health System, where hospital staff estimated she had burns over 33 percent of her body, police said. She was on a ventilator, according to the statement.

Police found methamphetamine and a digital scale during two searches of the home and the baby tested positive for amphetamines, according to the statement.

No lawyer was listed for Austin in online court records.

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