The 26-year-old suspect, Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, was booked into the Henrico County Jail on charges of malicious wounding and child abuse that caused serious injury around 1:15 a.m. Friday.
A perplexing string of injuries to babies in the NICU at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond in November and December prompted officials to launch an internal investigation and close the unit to new patients on Christmas Eve.
Public records show Strotman’s registered nurse’s license was first issued in 2019 and is valid until May 2026.
“In late November/December, we discovered that three babies in our Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU had unexplainable fractures, similar to an incident involving four babies in the summer of 2023,” the hospital said in a statement.
Concerned parents reported the injuries to Child Protective Services last year.
“Finally we can get some answers as to who abused our son. I wish I could say it was a happy moment learning of her arrest, however, learning the details involving the other babies, the only feeling I have is sadness and regret,” Dominique Hackey, the father of one of the victims, told Fox News Digital Friday. “I am heartbroken to learn the degree in what this person was allowed to get away with, and regret that I should’ve spoke up sooner in hopes to prevent other children from getting hurt. “
Hackey first went public with his story to the local news station WTVR-TV last month, revealing the confusion surrounding one of his twin son’s injuries. He suffered a mysterious fracture to his tibia in September 2023. His mother, a former NICU nurse herself, reported the injury to social services.
It wasn’t until a year later that Henrico CPS told them it had concluded that their son was the victim of physical abuse from an unnamed hospital staffer. Then in October, county police reportedly told them about the other, similar cases.
The hospital announced its NICU shutdown on Dec. 24 after the three latest incidents, but even then the alleged assailant remained unknown until police announced Strotman’s arrest Friday.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we are not admitting any additional babies into our NICU at this time,” the hospital said on Christmas Eve. “While fractures occasionally happen with pre-term babies since they lack full fetal bone development, we are actively working to determine how these fractures occurred.”
