TEXAS MOM FORCED TODDLER TO USE UNNEEDED WHEELCHAIR AND FEEDING TUBES

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

 

Texas mom forced toddler to use unneeded wheelchair and feeding tubes: warrant

By Shambhavi Rimal

April 3, 2026 12:59 PM

 

A North Texas mother accused of medically abusing her 3-year-old son falsified records to get feeding tubes and forced him to use a wheelchair unnecessarily before CPS removed him from her care in February, an arrest warrant alleges.

 

Kaitlyn Rose Laura, of Glen Rose, faces charges of serious bodily injury to a child and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office.

 

According to the arrest warrant affidavit prepared by Sheriff’s Office Detective Michael Weber, Laura is accused of falsifying her child’s medical history in order to get unnecessary treatments at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth and Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

 

Texas Child Protective Services removed Laura’s son from her care on Feb. 14, the affidavit states. The 31-year-old mother was released on bond with conditions including no contact with the victim or other children under 17, according to court documents.

 

Laura’s defense attorney declined to comment on the case Wednesday.

 

Timeline of alleged abuse

 

During an appointment at Cook Children’s hospital in Fort Worth in March 2025, Laura told doctors that her son “always had difficulty gaining weight” and his sheets “smell like acid,” which she said led her to believe he was vomiting overnight, the affidavit states

 

In the following month, detectives wrote, Laura provided falsified records for her birth experience including her son “needing oxygen,” which did not match his birth records. Toward the end of April 2025, the mother started sending messages to the hospital’s GI team asking for G-tube placement and saying that her son’s physical medicine and rehab provider told her to ask if that was something to consider. Later a doctor noted that there was no medical record for the recommendation and Laura “twisted her words,” the affidavit states.

 

Laura told doctors her child’s condition was “deteriorating” and that he had “declining weight,” when he remained in the 43rd to 48th percentile for growth, investigators said. She took him to the emergency room for suspected dehydration, but he was discharged after showing no signs of it.

 

She also claimed her son was “burning calories,” and one message read, “Why is no one listening to me?”, according to the affidavit. A doctor described her as “very pushy” in seeking a feeding tube and resistant to other therapies. A G-tube was placed May 20, when the child was at the 60th percentile for growth, the affidavit states.

 

During a May appointment, the mother reported finding bits of dog food in the child’s bowel movement. When a nurse showed her a dog food pellet, Laura said the child may have eaten it while unattended at a babysitter’s home, the affidavit states. Later that month, she returned to the hospital reporting problems with the feeding tube and intolerance to feeds, but doctors reportedly observed no issues when they administered feeding. According to the affidavit, hospital staff suspected possible medical abuse, and the child was placed in a room under video monitoring.

 

Nurses noted the toddler ate all foods by mouth, including French toast, quesadillas, pancakes, chicken, rice, fries and pasta, consuming all of his calories orally, according to doctors’ notes. The G-tube was not removed before discharge as a precaution.

 

According to the affidavit, Laura also insisted on having her son on a posey bed, an enclosed tent-like structure that can only be opened from one side to restrict the child’s movements. While the boy reportedly showed no signs of needing one, the mom also asked nurses to provide him Benadryl while he was calm, stating she didn’t want him “misbehaving.”

 

The doctor at Cook Children’s reported the suspected medical abuse concerns to Fort Worth police; however, the detective wrote in the affidavit that the case was moved to Glen Rose police due to jurisdiction restrictions and then to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.

 

In the meantime, CPS did not remove the child from the mother’s care, and the mother decided to take him to another hospital in December. The day after Christmas at the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, doctors noted that Laura “insisted” on a new feeding tube. In January the 3-year-old went through another surgery which required a second hole in his abdomen to insert a tube into the lower intestine for feeding, the detective wrote in the affidavit.

 

Staff at the Dallas hospital witnessed similar patterns of the mother reporting issues with the feeding tube and asking for a posey bed, the affidavit reads. The mother allegedly also asked for hospice services and total parenteral nutrition, which is delivered intravenously and bypasses the digestive system. However, doctors noted that the child did not require such care and was not terminally ill.

 

Detectives wrote in the affidavit that they found at least three separate GoFundMe accounts created by Laura along with multiple pages on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to solicit donations for both herself and her son’s medical expenses.

 

Despite normal EEGs and other reports from Cook Children’s hospital, Laura wrote in posts in late May 2025 that her son had seizures cerebral palsy, a mitochondrial disorder, autism and developmental delays, the affidavit states.

 

In an interview with the detectives, the child’s father said that Laura was the medical caregiver for their son and he let her handle the child’s medical care, according to the affidavit. Laura used to work at a Granbury home health company that specialized in caring for patients with feeding tubes, the father said.

 

Another report of medical abuse came from a school teacher in October 2025, who told the detectives that the child’s behavior at school did not match the medical history reported by the mother. According to the teacher, the toddler consumed proper snacks at school and “shows interest in other people’s food.”

 

A special education teacher also told a detective during an interview that she has videos of the child playing in the playground without needing a wheelchair.

 

The teacher told detectives that Laura would use complex medical jargon to talk about her child’s health which would not make sense. After this report, Laura removed her child from the school.

 

During an interview with Detective Weber in March, the foster caregiver noted that the child has a “very good appetite.” The caregiver noted that the toddler can walk but “gets winded after a long walk” due to “still low but building muscle tone.”

 

The caregiver also said that she wonders if some of the child’s milestone delays including speech delays could be because of the environment he was raised in rather than his medical condition.