GERMANTOWN, MD – A Montgomery County mother received a 25-year prison sentence this past Friday for the first-degree abuse and neglect of her 8-year-old son, which resulted in severe burns across 25% of his body. The incident unfolded in the family’s Germantown apartment in May 2020 when the child’s mother, Kimberly Tyler, 31, doused his hand with rubbing alcohol and ignited it as a punishment for spilling cereal.

The boy’s injuries were catastrophic, including third-degree burns to his arm, chest, and neck and extensive first and second-degree burns to his face and upper body. Despite the severity of the situation, Tyler did not seek immediate medical attention for her son. Instead, she contacted her parents, and along with her father, she procured basic first aid supplies. The child was then moved to his grandparent’s house, where he spent the next two weeks without proper medical care, enduring excruciating pain.

As the days passed, the boy’s condition worsened. Skin infections set in, and the smell of decaying flesh was so overpowering that it prompted a specialist team to intervene upon the boy’s eventual hospitalization, which came after two weeks of excruciating pain and enforced hiding. The hospitalization only occurred due to the decision of the grandmother to bring the child to the Children’s National Medical Center.

This ordeal eventually led to hospital staff alerting authorities about potential abuse. The investigation that followed would reveal the full extent of the child’s hardships. The boy underwent multiple surgeries during a prolonged hospital stay, with doctors noting that timely medical attention could have greatly mitigated his suffering.

The court’s response to these grim circumstances saw Tyler convicted in December for her crimes. State’s Attorney John McCarthy commented on the severity of the case, stating that this was an inconceivable breach of trust from a mother to her child.

Kimberly Tyler’s father, Kimball Tyler, faced his own legal ramifications, as testimony revealed his attempt to care for the boy without medical assistance. He was found guilty of reckless endangerment and was sentenced to probation. The boy’s other mother, Chareese Snorgrass-Tyler, pled guilty to neglect of a minor, receiving a partially suspended sentence of five years with six months to serve in prison and five years of probation thereafter.

The Montgomery County community is left to grapple with the consequences of this tragedy as its youngest victim begins the long journey of healing both physically and emotionally from the scars of abuse.