On Friday, an Oklahoma woman was punished for her role in a child abuse incident and the bizarre, almost literal, coverup attempt.
The Oklahoma woman identified as Taylor Ainsworth-Hudson, 28, will spend the next five years in a Sooner State jail, followed by another five years on probation, for child abuse inflicted on her stepson.
The defendant was convicted nearly five years after her arrest in August 2018 – when police officers in Midwest City discovered a terrifying discovery: a young child hidden, and plainly tortured, inside a washing machine. The Oklahoma woman and her then-boyfriend, Cody Wayne Hudson, 33, whom she later married, had instructed the boy to remain inside the huge appliance while police investigated the house.
“To put clothes in front to try to hide him, so that police can’t find him, and threaten him if he says anything, it’s just very sad,” Midwest City Assistant Police Chief Sid Porter said at the time, according to Houston-based ABC station KTRK.
The abuse was uncovered after the Oklahoma woman’s sister filed a report with Midwest City police, claiming that the defendant, who was six months pregnant at the time, admitted to abusing Hudson’s son.
The couple initially informed police that the youngster had been staying with Ainsworth-Hudson for many days.
According to court documents obtained by The Oklahoman, law enforcement nearly missed finding the boy in question and had already left the house on McGregor Drive when they received fresh information. During the second search, officers discovered the boy “in the washing machine, covered by a blanket,” according to authorities.
According to authorities, the 9-year-old’s body was covered in bruises from the top of his head to the bottom of his legs.
Hudson accepted full responsibility for the child’s injuries. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma woman expressed surprise, telling authorities that she was on bed rest and had no knowledge the boy was in the house.
However, during a forensic interview, the victim stated that the Oklahoma woman was responsible for much of the abuse.
“No one likes you”
The boy told investigators, pointing to his injuries, that the defendant bit him several times, choked him, stomped on him, and told him, “shut up or I’ll beat you more.” On another occasion, the boy said, the Oklahoma woman choked him while beating him with a spatula and telling the young child that no one liked him, according to court documents obtained by the Oklahoman.
According to the newspaper, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Amy Palumbo consulted visual evidence during the sentencing hearing. The court, speaking to the Oklahoma woman while seeing a photograph, said the boy’s physique “literally looks like Swiss cheese.”
Palumbo went on to say that the abuse “would horrify any parent.”
The penalty would be described by the judge as the result of the defendant’s “systematic and ongoing bad decisions,” according to a courtroom report by Oklahoma City-based NBC affiliate KFOR. According to reports, the judge took considerable time studying, analyzing, and contrasting the details of the case before making her conclusion.
A family member held the opposing viewpoint.
“[The children] were withheld food and water, and they were subjected to beatings everywhere,” relative Jamie Solis Douglas told KFOR. “How could a biological or stepparent lay their hands on a 9-year-old and a 6-year-old over and over again?” [She is] a monster, a horrible, horrible monster, and a very egregious person all around.”