Heidi L. Duesing-Christensen
PORTAGE - It is a child abuse case that is one of the most disturbing ever seen by a Columbus lieutenant during his 13 years as a police officer.
Columbus and Arizona authorities are investigating the discovery, by her father, of an emaciated 5-year-old girl covered in scabs and bruises.
Authorities on Monday charged the girl’s mother with multiple felonies, including child abuse. Heidi L. Duesing-Christensen, 30, of Columbus, is free on $2,000 cash bail after an initial appearance Monday in Columbia County Circuit Court.
Lt. Dennis Weiner of the Columbus Police Department, along with authorities in Arizona, where the girl now lives with her father, is investigating the case. While he has not seen the girl, he has seen photos of her.
“The amount of bruising (and) seeing marks on wrists and ankles ... is disturbing enough,” Weiner said.
The girl is described as having multiple bruises on her arms, legs, back, forehead and inside and around her right ear; scabs on wrists and ankles; and scabbed-over scratches on her chest, according to court documents.
The girl weighed just less than 30 pounds, a weight that puts her in the 3rd percentile for her age, according to a chart by the National Center for Health Statistics, Weiner said in the complaint. In other words, 97 percent of girls her age weigh more than that.
Weiner said medical personnel during an examination discovered tape adhesive on the girl’s face near one ear.
Duesing-Christensen told the girl’s father that the bruises were caused by the girl throwing herself against a wall during her “fits” that grew so bad that Duesing-Christensen had to “pin that kid down,” according to a criminal complaint.
According to Columbus police and court records, Duesing-Christensen said that she was driven to overmedicate, tie up with rope and tape, and lock in a closet the 5-year-old girl, who she said would scream and thrash around.
According to the records, Duesing-Christensen said she had to give the girl multiple doses of Benadryl to calm the girl down and that she locked her in a closet when she had a tantrum.
In a text message sent to the girl’s father, Duesing-Christensen wrote that, despite two adult doses of Benadryl, “(the girl) was still up every hour or less screaming, beating her door, thrashing around,” according to the complaint.
Duesing-Christensen had given the girl “enough (medication) to knock 2 adults out. It’s been 3 (weeks) now. Nonstop. Can’t take another minute of this,” she wrote in the text message, the complaint stated.
A teacher at the Columbus Elementary School the girl attended told Weiner that she noticed in October discoloration on 50 percent of the girl’s back as well as scabbing; the teacher also said the girl is one of the few students who eats all of the food she is given at school, according to court documents.
The girl told authorities that her mother’s boyfriend would “put the rope on her” and that her mother would put tape on her feet, mouth, head and back, the complaint stated. She said she usually was in her room when tied up but once was put into a closet, according to the complaint.
Duesing-Christensen reportedly told the girl’s father that her behavior wasn’t fair to others in the home, which included a 12-year-old girl and a 3-year-old girl, as well as Duesing-Christensen and her boyfriend, according to court documents.
The 12-year-old girl told authorities that the 5-year-old girl would be kept in a bedroom all day, not be allowed to use the bathroom for up to two hours, and that Duesing-Christensen would send the girl to bed without eating as a means to make the girl compliant, the complaint stated.
Authorities executing a search warrant found locks on the outside of the girl’s bedroom, and tape and Benadryl in the home, according to court documents.
Duesing-Christensen, who is estranged from her husband, sent the girl to live with her father in Arizona; he noticed the bruises and took her to be seen by medical personnel, the complaint stated.
The girl continues to live with her father; she has had no behavior problems while there and has begun to gain weight, according to court documents.
Duesing-Christensen, who was arrested Thursday following a two-week investigation, faces 29 years in prison as a maximum initial prison sentences on felony charges of child enticement, physical abuse of a child-intentionally causing bodily harm, child neglect resulting in bodily harm, second-degree reckless endangerment, and bail jumping.
Weiner said the mother’s boyfriend could face charges as well.
“We’re just trying to finalize the information we have before a decision is made,” Weiner said.
In an unrelated case, Duesing-Christensen was charged in Racine County in March with felony theft in a business setting between $5,000 and $10,000, which carries a maximum initial penalty of three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Weiner said the family moved to Columbus in spring or early summer, possibly from the Racine area.
Duesing-Christensen is scheduled for a pretrial conference Dec. 18 and a court hearing Jan. 29.
sgreen@capitalnewspapers.com