'You can't imagine what this baby looked like'

IN A WORLD of infinite possibilities, there are some scenarios that should be relegated only to nightmares.

But sometimes nightmares make their way into our world. On Thursday afternoon in Darby Borough, one did.

A 1-month-old infant left alone in her car seat on a living room floor was eaten alive by her family's three ferrets who escaped their flimsy cage and chewed 15 to 20 percent of the tiny girl's face off, according to Darby Borough police Chief Robert Smythe.

"The ferrets did chew the infant's nose, top lip and its cheek area. They had eaten that area away," Smythe said yesterday. "I got cops that couldn't sleep last night . . . You can't imagine what this baby looked like."

The child remains in stable condition in intensive care at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where doctors have placed two stents in her nose so she can breath, Smythe said.

The parents, both of whom were at home and upstairs at the time of the attack, were charged last night with five counts each of endangering the welfare of a child, for each kid in the house, according to a spokeswoman for the Delaware County District Attorney's Office. The spokeswoman did not know the names of the parents and Smythe did not release them, but they were identified by 6ABC as Burnie Fraime and Jessica Benales.

Police were called to the home on Poplar Street near Pine about 3:30 p.m. Thursday and found the mauled baby still in her car seat.

The mother told police she had set the baby down on the living room floor and went upstairs, where the father was asleep. Police don't know how long the child was alone, but at some point, the parents said their three ferrets got out of their cloth cage and they heard the child screaming.

Joseph Young, 21, who lives directly next door, said he could hear the cries, too.

"It sounded like a little kid screaming and somebody who was in a lot of pain," Young said.

Smythe was incensed that the baby was left alone for any period of time as she screamed in agony.

"Just picture it: There's a 1-[month]-old infant laying there and anywhere from one-to-three animals are eating it while the child is still alive and screaming," he said. "Now how long do you think it would take you to get downstairs to your kid?

"Do you think that much flesh would be gone by the time you got down there?"

Smythe described the home, where the parents lived with their five children, as "a house in crisis." He said there was a mite or flea infestation and along with the three ferrets, the family had six cats and two turtles. They'd also recently gotten rid of two aggressive dogs, he said.

As police looked in the cupboards of the house, their horror grew.

"They have food for the animals but very little food for the children," Smythe said. "As a matter of fact, I seen a jar of peanut butter and a can of cranberries. I didn't see much more than that."

Smythe said all five of the children, whom he believed to range in age from 1 month to about 5 years, have special needs and "the parents have needs of their own," but he said he could not professionally identify those needs. A neighbor said she believed one of the children had Down syndrome and one or more may be autistic.

Three agencies, including Delaware County Children and Youth Services, were involved with the family prior to this incident, Smythe said, and should have been aware of the "unacceptable" living conditions in the house.

"If they're being monitored, what is going on?" he asked. "I'm not a CYS person. I'm a cop. I've been one for 45 years, and this is the most horrific thing I've seen happen to a child."

Smythe said CYS is investigating the current case and placed the remaining four children in the care of a relative, a decision he was not happy about.

"These children need to be placed, in my opinion, in some type of foster care that's outside the limits of the family."

Trisha Cofiell, county spokeswoman, said state law prohibited her from discussing any CYS cases, but she said the agency would be cooperating with police.

The ferrets were removed from the home, euthanized and tested for rabies, Smythe said. The results of the rabies testing had not come back as of yesterday.

Smythe said he did not believe the parents abused the children, but there were glaring signs of neglect.

"I don't think they're bad people but, I don't know how to put this, they cannot care for these five children," he said.

Three neighbors separately interviewed on the family's block, including Young, Josephine Pour, 18, and a 27-year-old mother who asked not to be identified, said the couple was nice and their young relatives would often play with the family's children.

All said they were shocked at receiving news of the nightmarish attack.

"I have never heard of anything like this happening before," Young said.

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