Doctors dispute Hastings daycare provider’s story on infant’s severe head injuries

HASTINGS, Neb. – Doctors say a Hastings daycare provider's story about how an infant child suffered severe head injuries doesn't add up.

The Hastings Police Department arrested Jade Essink, 23, Tuesday afternoon for negligent child abuse after a six-week-long investigation.

Authorities say 10-month-old Treyce Halbmaier suffered a severe head injury on Dec. 11, 2024 at an in-home daycare run by Essink on W. 9th St.

A medical helicopter flew Halbmaier to an Omaha hospital with a brain bleed and severe head trauma.

According to the arrest affidavit, Essink claims that another child fell into Halbmaier, which knocked him over and caused him to hit his head on a stone fireplace.

Three separate doctors told police the injuries suffered by Halbmaier were not consistent with a fall.

One doctor said he was "100 percent sure the injuries sustained by the victim were due to child abuse." He noted several other injuries and scabs to his body that had begun to heal, and a bruise on his back that was multiple days old.

Another doctor said the injuries were consistent with shaking or slamming more than once.

The affidavit said Halbmaier suffered a fractured scapula and fractures in the parietal bone down to the left occipital bone.

A GoFundMe page for Halbmaier says that he is recovering well from the injuries and was moved out of the ICU and into a rehab hospital.

Essink was lodged in the Adams County Jail. She posted 10% of a $5,000 bond on Wednesday for bail.

She is set for an arraignment in county court on Thursday at 9 a.m.

Negligent child abuse is a Class IIIA felony punishable by up to three years in prison.

Hastings Police says the investigation is near an end, but is still open.