MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — A four-year-old girl has been at McLane Children's Medical Center in Temple since Thursday, after being abused by her mother and her mother's boyfriend in Lorena.
The McLennan County Sheriff's Office located the child being abused upon responding to a Child Protective Services (CPS) referral about a possible child abuse complaint in the 100 block of Hope Circle on Thursday. CPS had contacted detectives about the child victim.
The child was transported to the hospital with several injuries including a lacerated pancreas, possible fractured ribs, and bruising to the body and face, according to authorities.
After an investigation, an MCSO detective issued an arrest warrant for the child's mother's boyfriend, Jeffrey Nevarez, for injury to a child.
Nevarex was arrested, and a warrant was also issued for a violation of parole — Nevarez is being held on a $150,000 bond and a parole violation, which he was on for a family violence assault offense.
As of Friday, authorities issued an arrest warrant for the child's mother, Kandis Eaton-Audrey, for abandoning or endangering a child.
She was arrested within about an hour of the warrant being issued — there is no bond information at this time.
"It takes a really low-down despicable coward to beat and injure a helpless 4-year-old girl. You don’t get much worse than this," Sheriff Parnell McNamara with the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said.
The victim child remains at the hospital for observation, and CPS is set to remove the child victim from the home for further investigation.
