SALT LAKE CITY — A former employee with the Utah Department of Child and Family Services has been charged in connection to the abuse of a 15-month-old boy in which the child's babysitter and her mother were being investigated.
Kaitlyn Marcella Murphy was charged with four felonies, including Tampering with a Witness.
In June, the boy's father called the police after he picked up his child from his babysitter, Erika Bos. According to indictment records, the boy had scratches and bruises all over his body and "appeared to be lethargic and his eyes were swollen from crying."
Because of his injuries, the boy's parents later took him to Primary Children's Hospital to be examined.
The Unified Police detective assigned to the case approached Bos who, when asked about the injuries, claimed it may have been allergies.
Texts extracted from Bos's phone show a conversation between her and her mother, Lindsay, in which her mother asked, “Hey can you please call your lawyer guy and ask how I should answer the questions from the detective when I can’t remember half of what went on yesterday!”
Bos then mentioned Murphy's name and that she was an acquaintance who worked for the Department of Child and Family Services, with Bos knowing the department was looking into the case.
Texts allegedly showed Murphy giving Bos inside information into the case.
“His parents are being shady anyway. I can come over after and tell you about that,” texted Murphy, along with “I wouldn’t worry about it too much because [the boy's mother] has literally no evidence for what happened to him or where he got the marks from.”
Murphy is accused of giving Bos updates on the case and attempting to influence its outcome. In a separate text, Murphy said, “I expressed to [a co-worker] that you would NEVER hurt a child and she said that she doesn't even have anything.”
Court records claim Murphy accessed the Bos case multiple times.
Along with Murphy, Bos also faces Aggravated Child Abuse and Tampering with Evidence charges.
