COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Kenwood woman is accused of badly beating her 7-year-old son and repeatedly locking the boy in a closet over a two-year period.
Police learned about the case Sunday when a good Samaritan spotted the boy running next to Lake Shore Drive in a dirty diaper, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
A doctor who examined the boy said the child had more injuries on his body than the doctor had ever seen on one person, prosecutors said. An investigation revealed the boy had been fed sporadically, frequently locked in a closet and beaten with household items, court records show.
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Mother Caroline Woods, 24, is charged with aggravated battery to a child and aggravated battery using a deadly weapon.
"These are depraved acts," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. told Woods during a bond hearing Tuesday. "You are a danger to society. You will be held without bail."
According to prosecutors, Woods and her boyfriend beat the boy regularly with an extension cord, baseball bat and pole.
Woods' boyfriend forced the boy to sit on a hot stove and burned his genitalia with a hot curling iron, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said in court Tuesday. The boyfriend was not named in court, and it is unclear whether he will be charged in connection with the case.
Both the 7-year-old boy and Woods' 2-year-old daughter were placed in protective custody Sunday, DCFS spokeswoman Alissandra Calderón confirmed in an email Tuesday.
The agency is investigating Woods and her boyfriend on allegations of abuse and neglect. Before Sunday, DCFS had no contact with the Woods family, Calderón said.
The boy told police his mother never let him go outside and often left the boy home alone, according to court records.
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