Police say the 8-month-old required emergency brain surgery after being injured at an unlicensed home child-care operation in Smithfield.

SMITHFIELD, N.C. — A North Carolina woman accused of causing catastrophic brain injuries to an 8-month-old boy at an unlicensed home daycare remained listed in the Johnston County jail in late August, weeks after investigators charged her with intentionally abusing the infant during a July 6 incident.

Brooke Ashley Reiner, 26, faces two counts of intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury and one count of providing child care while unlicensed resulting in serious injury to a child. Authorities allege the baby suffered a brain bleed, a shift of brain tissue from its normal position and a disconnection between the brain’s hemispheres. The boy underwent emergency brain surgery after being taken to WakeMed in Raleigh. Early reports described his condition as serious, while a later probable cause affidavit said doctors considered his chance of survival slim. No reliable later public update on the child’s condition could be located.

The case began not with a routine police call but with doctors treating the infant. According to an arrest affidavit, WakeMed medical staff contacted the Smithfield Police Department after determining that the boy had suffered severe head trauma that appeared to be nonaccidental. That finding placed the child’s injuries at the center of a criminal investigation and led detectives to examine what had happened while he was being cared for at Sunrise to Sunset Childcare, a home-based operation on Cloverdale Drive. Police said the business was not licensed to provide child care.

Reiner gave investigators an account that described an apparent medical emergency during a diaper change, according to the affidavit. She said the child had awakened from a nap and that his eyes rolled back before he began having what appeared to be a seizure. Reiner told police that the baby’s body became stiff and his arms drew toward his chest. She said she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him while trying to get a response. Emergency medical personnel were called, and the infant was transported for treatment.

Investigators later alleged a sharply different sequence of events. Court records accuse Reiner of throwing the baby onto a changing table and slamming his head against the surface. She is also accused of striking the infant multiple times with her hand in the face, head and abdomen. The allegations are contained in charging documents and have not been proven in court. Authorities have not publicly released evidence showing precisely how they reconstructed the incident or whether any video recording captured what happened inside the home.

The medical consequences described in the court records were severe. Police said the child had external bruising and a brain bleed accompanied by a midline shift, a term used when pressure or swelling moves brain structures away from their normal position. Records also described a hemispheric disconnection or separation. The infant required emergency neurosurgery and intensive care. The affidavit later cited doctors as describing the child’s survivability as slim, a more grave assessment than the earlier public description that he remained hospitalized in serious condition.

Reiner was arrested July 7, the day after the incident that prompted the investigation. A Johnston County magistrate set a $5 million secured bond. Police initially announced the two serious-injury child-abuse charges and the separate charge connected to providing child care without a license. Later reporting based on court records said a grand jury indicted Reiner in July. The available records do not establish that she has entered a plea, and the accusations against her remain allegations unless proved beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

The licensing allegation became a second major part of the case because the child was allegedly injured while Reiner was operating a regular child-care service from her home. Reporting on the business identified it as Sunrise to Sunset Childcare. A social media post attributed to Reiner from November 2024 said she had started the service so she could remain at home as a single mother while also helping other families find affordable care. In that post, she said she was working toward obtaining a license and hoped to have one within several months. Police said the operation was still unlicensed when they began investigating in July 2026.

Investigators also indicated that their inquiry was not limited to the injuries suffered by the 8-month-old. Smithfield police said they believed the home daycare had operated for more than a year and regularly cared for several children. Detectives sought to identify other families who had used the service, signaling that they were examining the history of the operation as well as the events of July 6. Authorities have not publicly announced additional alleged victims or additional charges arising from that outreach, and the available reporting does not establish that other children were harmed.

The case therefore rests on several different types of evidence that have emerged publicly: the medical findings reported by the hospital, Reiner’s account of the child’s seizure-like symptoms, investigators’ allegations about physical force and records concerning the daycare’s licensing status. What has not been made public is also significant. Authorities have not released a complete evidentiary record, a detailed medical timeline, a public explanation of how investigators determined when each injury occurred or a later medical prognosis for the infant. Those gaps limit what can responsibly be stated about the case before further court proceedings.

The allegation involving an unlicensed child-care operation also gives the case a dimension beyond the criminal accusations against one caregiver. Families who used the service may have believed they were placing children in a regular home daycare, while police say the operation lacked the required license. The criminal charge related to unlicensed care specifically alleges that serious injury resulted while Reiner was providing that care. Prosecutors will have to establish the elements of that offense separately from the intentional child-abuse counts, and the filing of charges alone does not establish criminal responsibility.

Initial news reports said Reiner had a court appearance scheduled for Aug. 5, but reliable public reporting reviewed for this article did not establish what occurred at that proceeding or identify a new hearing date. A Johnston County inmate search available in late August continued to list Reiner, whose booking date was July 7, under an intentional child-abuse charge. The public jail listing confirms her continued detention but does not resolve the status of the prosecution, the evidence that may be presented in court or the ultimate disposition of the charges.

The infant’s present medical condition is likewise unclear. Public reports in July said he remained hospitalized after emergency brain surgery, and the affidavit described an extremely poor prognosis at that time. No later authoritative update on whether his condition improved, worsened or remained unchanged was found in the material reviewed for this article. Because the child is an infant and has not been publicly identified in the reliable sources reviewed, his name is being withheld.

Smithfield police have described the investigation as ongoing and previously asked people with information about the case or the operation of Sunrise to Sunset Childcare to contact detectives. As of Aug. 27, Reiner remained listed in the county jail, while the publicly available record left major questions unresolved about the child’s current condition and the next stage of the criminal case.

Author note: Last updated August 27, 2026.