February 28, 2022 at 1:20 p.m.
Woodruff man held on $100K in child abuse case
Infant son hospitalized
Woodruff man held on $100K in child abuse case
According to online court records, Clayton T. Kuehl made his initial appearance in Oneida County Circuit Court on Feb. 22. He is charged with physical abuse of a child (intentionally cause great bodily harm), physical abuse of a child (repeated acts causing great bodily harm) and strangulation and suffocation.
According to the report of the Woodruff police detective who investigated the case, Minocqua Dispatch received a 9-1-1 call from Kuehl at 9:14 p.m. Feb. 19 reporting his three-month-old son was not breathing. After police and EMS arrived on scene, the child was transported to Howard Young Medical Center and then to Marshfield Medical Center (MMC) in Marshfield.
The next day the officer was contacted by a social worker at MMC with a list of the injuries the child had sustained, including severe ischemia (hemorrhage) of the brain, bruising of the body and multiple rib fractures. The detective was also informed that the MMC child abuse specialist felt the injuries were consistent with child abuse, the report states.
An agent from the Wisconsin Department of Justice Department of Criminal Investigation interviewed the primary doctor treating the child, who confirmed that the child "had several significant injuries from different periods of time, some believed to be from two to four weeks prior," the officer wrote in his report. "The injuries were believed, by doctors, to be consistent with non-accidental trauma."
A CT/MRI scan revealed an "anoxic brain injury believed to be from within the last week," the report continued. "Doctors believed that injury to be from a lack of oxygen or asphyxiation."
The doctor also reported that the child had a "partial skull fracture that showed significant signs of healing" and was estimated to be between two and four weeks old, the report said.
In an interview with an Oneida County sheriff's detective and a DCI agent, Kuehl allegedly confessed that he "believed the injuries were due to the way (he) had physically abused (the child)."
"Clayton stated, 'I can say I'm too rough, I've been too rough,'" the officer wrote.
According to the report, Kuehl demonstrated actions he referred to as the "routine" for calming the child down when he was crying or fussy. He told the detectives he had been using the "routine" for about five weeks.
"Clayton told investigators he had taken it too far in squeezing (the child) and stated that he had done it in 'a combination of love and frustration,' due to the frustration because (the child) would not calm down. Clayton described feeling rage due to this frustration," the officer wrote.
Kuehl told the investigator he performed the "routine" on the child on Feb. 19, only this time the child's arms and legs flailed before he went limp in Kuehl's arms.
At the initial appearance, circuit judge Mike Bloom set a $100,000 cash bond and scheduled an adjourned initial appearance for the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 25. During that hearing, Bloom was advised that Kuehl will be represented by public defender attorney Elizabeth Svehlek. He then scheduled the preliminary hearing for March 4.
According to the police report, as of Feb. 22 the child was "in unstable medical condition and death is possible as a result of brain injuries."
Each of the child abuse charges is a Class C felony carrying a maximum possible prison sentence of 40 years.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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