Alleged abuse against 3-month-old baby included brain injury, sexual trauma: court records
A Kansas City man charged Monday with child abuse allegedly critically injured a 3-month-old girl while babysitting her overnight, including injuries consistent with brain trauma and sexual assault, according to court records.
Johnny Christopher Bonacorso, 29, pleaded not guilty to felony child abuse Monday.
Bonacorso knew the mother of the victim for 14 years, and frequently watched the baby overnight while she worked, according to court documents.
Kansas City police became aware of the abuse when they were dispatched to Children’s Mercy Hospital around 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 5, according to charging documents.
The child’s mother, identified in court documents as RW, brought the baby to the emergency room at Children’s Mercy on the morning of Oct. 5. She said that after returning from work, she went to change her daughter’s diaper and noticed her child was severely bruised on her stomach and in the area of her diaper, according to court documents.
The child was transported to the hospital’s emergency department, where she was immediately intubated. Doctors at Children’s Mercy determined that the baby’s clavicle had been fractured on both sides, along with her left femur, according to charging documents. Doctors also discovered significant trauma to her brain, with injured tissue and a large brain bleed.
The child’s genitals were bruised and injured in a manner consistent with sexual abuse, according to charging documents. She was also bruised throughout her face and body, including trauma to the tongue, kidney and spleen.
Bonacorso dropped the victim’s mother off at her job around 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 4, court documents read, and picked her up around 9 a.m. the next day.
Later in the evening of Oct. 4, Bonacorso attended his own child’s birthday party, before bringing the baby back to the apartment, according to court documents.
Bonacorso said he noticed the bruises when he tried to feed the child a bottle around 4 a.m. Oct. 5, but claimed he did not cause them, according to court records. He also reported noticing bruising on the baby’s chest and dots on her face, but claimed the injuries had happened overnight without his knowledge, charging documents read.
The child’s mother told police no one besides Bonacorso was around the child between the birthday party and the following morning.
Bonacorso is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond, and will next appear in court on Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m. He is banned from having any contact with the infant or her mother.
This story was originally published October 9, 2024 at 4:24 PM.
