By JESSICA SAVAGE
The Lufkin Daily News

Thursday, July 03, 2008

The death of a 2-year-old Hudson boy who died in September after suffering severe head trauma has been ruled a homicide by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ian Wesley Landers died Sept. 21 in a Houston hospital after he was taken off life support. He had gone into a vegetative state in late August after suffering head trauma.

The death of 2-year-old Ian Wesley Landers of Hudson has been ruled by the Harris County Medical Examiner?s Office as a homicide.

While a full autopsy report has not been released, a homicide ruling was recently made after months of uncertainty about which direction the case was going to take, according to the medical examiner's office.

Hudson Police Chief Jeffrey Burns said no criminal charges have been filed or arrests made, but that his office is working with the county district attorney's office and sheriff's office on the investigation. The case involves a timeline of events leading up to the boy's injuries, which investigators are trying to narrow. Anyone who had contact with the boy during that time is considered a suspect, Burns said.

"No one has been ruled out," he said.

The toddler was brought to Memorial Health System of East Texas Aug. 31 with a severe head injury. A day before, the boy had been taken to a Lufkin doctor, according to Child Protective Services.

"The intake report stated that the child had fallen again during the day," stated a press release previously provided to the newspaper. "No explanation was given for how the injury had happened. The child was not taken to the hospital at the time of the fall, but taken to a local doctor's office for observation. Later that same evening the child was taken to the hospital for further observation and later released."

Ian was admitted to Memorial Hospital with trauma to the back of his head, CPS spokeswoman Shari Pulliam said in a previous report. From there he was flown by helicopter to a Houston hospital where he later died after his parents, Tonya and Scott Landers, who were separated at the time, decided to remove his breathing tube. Ian's parents were separated at the time their son was severely injured. The custody and visitation agreement they had with one another is a large part of the investigation, according to authorities.

When Ian was severely injured Aug. 31, Child Protective Services had been investigating a family abuse allegation made Aug. 14, Pulliam previously said. The boy's father, Scott Landers, had agreed prior to the Aug. 31 injury not to be around the child unless he was supervised by a relative, Pulliam said.

"We had made it clear that the child could not be with the father unless he was supervised by family members," she said.

Scott Landers' attorney, Ryan Deaton of Lufkin, has said there were never any findings to the abuse allegations.

CPS has since turned over its investigation over to law enforcement. Two children living with Scott Landers and his girlfriend have remained in foster care or in the care of a relative, Pulliam said.

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baby_death_homicide.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor