Finally, some movement in the Keaton Boggs case out of West Virginia.

As you may remember, five-year-old Keaton was rushed to the emergency room at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia on Wednesday, March 18, 2020 by his paternal grandmother, 48-year-old Michelle Boggs; her daughter, 29-year-old Chasity Wodzinski; and Chasity’s husband, 32-year-old Peter “PJ” Wodzinski Jr. Keaton succumbed to his injuries two days later, on March 20.

The three adults told medical staff that Keaton’s various injuries, including multiple bruises all over his body, a “catastrophic” brain injury resulting in bleeding on his brain, and a one-and-a-half inch laceration on his penis, were accidental, but that story went over like a lead balloon, and all three of them were arrested after Keaton’s death.

Police allege that Michelle, Chasity, and PJ “maliciously inflicted substantial physical pain, illness or impairment of physical condition by other than accidental means, thereby causing the death” of Keaton, who had lived in the family’s home in Lost Creek, West Virginia, along with Chasity and PJ’s three children, for approximately nine months at the time of his death. Michelle Boggs was given temporary custody of Keaton when his father, Michelle’s son, Chris Boggs, died of a drug overdose on June 16, 2019. Keaton’s mom, Jessika Bishop-Holt, was going through a rehabilitation program and trying to get her life together before seeking permanent custody of her son, so it’s especially heartbreaking that she wasn’t able to do so before he lost his life at the hands of people who should have wanted to protect him.

On Wednesday, September 9, a Harrison County grand jury indicted Michelle Boggs, Chasity Wodzinski, and PJ Wodzinski on charges of death of a child by parent, guardian or custodian by child abuse. If the three, who have been held in the North Central Regional jail since they were arrested in March, are convicted, they could face fifteen years to life in prison. 

I’ve been unable to find any information on the date for a preliminary hearing, because it’s impossible to obtain case information from West Virginia, either online or by calling the court and prosecutor’s office directly. I’ll keep my eye out for news updates on the case.

I will be covering Keaton’s story this coming week on Suffer the Little Children Podcast.

Click here for my ongoing coverage of Keaton’s case.

Sources: WCHS 8 Eyewitness News