Complaint: Suspect in Fond du Lac daycare abuse was ‘frustrated’, slammed baby into crib

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WBAY) - A caretaker at a Fond du Lac daycare who was arrested after a child abuse investigation has been formally charged in Fond du Lac County court.

32-year-old Ashley Karschnick of Fond du Lac is facing a felony count of Child Abuse-Recklessly Cause Harm. She had a bond hearing on Tuesday, where her bond was set at $2,500. She’ll be back in court at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 28.

According to the criminal complaint, Fond du Lac police were called to Children’s Wisconsin in Milwaukee on October 13 for a report of a 3-month-old girl who had suffered a fractured arm, which was believed to have happened at a daycare.

Police say they reviewed video of the infant room at Lily Pad Day Care, where Karschnick was working on October 13th, the day of the incident.

Detectives noted that Karschnick looked to be getting “more and more frustrated” throughout the day. Just before 12:30 p.m., the video shows Karschnick picking up the baby by the torso and taking her over to the crib, where she slammed the baby down “with enough force where you can see the side of the crib rock side to side and you can hear thump from the impact on the mattress”, causing the baby to scream.

According to the complaint, Karschnick went back to the crib 8 minutes later, with police saying she may have been attempting to starfish swaddle the baby. Detectives say that the baby was screaming so loudly that she was gasping for air, and that it sounded “like a blood-curdling scream”.

Police say Karschnick then took the baby out of the crib, still holding the swaddle, and laid her on the floor. Detectives noted that the baby’s left arm was limp and not being used normally from this point on in the video, and she was screaming very loudly.

According to medical records from Children’s Wisconsin, the baby suffered a “minimal displaced spiral fracture of the mid left humeral diaphysis,” and the doctor concluded that it was consistent with child physical abuse.

Police spoke with Karschnick on October 16th, where she denied being frustrated and slamming the baby into the crib, instead telling police that she caused the crib’s movement by bumping it with her hip. When asked about the baby’s scream, Karschnick said, “I feel like it was the same cry she was giving me,” and “I feel like every time I touched her she was crying”. The complaint also says that in a later interview, Karschnick denied trying to put the baby into a swaddle, but had told police she had in the earlier interview.

Police ask that you contact Detective Chris Deering at (920) 322-3723, cdeering@fdl.wi.gov, or the Crime Alert line at (920) 322-3740 if you have any information about this case