The WHEELER Children - 6, 5 and 3 yo - Lafayette IN

A Lafayette mother who police said tried to smother her 3-year-old son was charged Monday with attempted murder.Police
found Senora Wheeler, 23, her two daughters -- ages 5 and 6 -- along
with her 1-year-old niece, huddled under a tree near Union Street and
Earl Avenue in Lafayette early on Nov. 28, said Lafayette police Det.
Sgt. Scott McCoy.

Officers said Wheeler was unconscious, and that
when they moved her body, they found 3-year-old Melvin Moon Jr.
underneath her, lying face down and not breathing.Investigators
said the boy's sisters said that Wheeler put her hand over her son's
mouth to make him stop screaming and began to choke him, eventually
lying on top of the boy.Moon was listed in critical condition at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis on Monday.The other children were unharmed. All were taken into custody by Child Protective Services.Wheeler was being held in the Tippecanoe County Jail.

A Tippecanoe County judge must decide whether a Lafayette toddler hospitalized with a traumatic brain injury should remain on life support.
Melvin Moon Jr., 3, has been at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in Indianapolis since Nov. 28. Ventilators are being used to help him breathe.
The boy’s fate rests with Judge Don Daniel of Tippecanoe Circuit Court, who presided over a special Child In Need of Services hearing today on Melvin Jr.’s medical treatment.
A decision is expected soon.

"I feel awfully bad for your family and your child," Daniel told the boy's parents, Senora L. Wheeler and Melvin Moon Sr. of Lafayette. "What a terrible situation you found yourselves in.

"My heart aches for your son. ... This is probably the hardest decision I've ever had to make on the bench."

Investigators suspect that Melvin Jr.'s injuries occurred when he was allegedly smothered or choked by his mother, according to criminal charges filed Monday against Wheeler.

The morning of Nov. 28, the Lafayette Police Department found Wheeler lying on top of her son under a pine tree at Union Street and Earl Avenue.

The family is not homeless, and it's unclear why they were outside in near-freezing temperatures.

"I don't want to speculate, and there has been a lot of speculation about this," Detective Sgt. Scott McCoy said. "All we can go on are the facts of that day."

Melvin Jr.'s medical treatment is an issue for the court because the boy and his siblings - two girls, ages 5 and 6, who also were found under the pine tree - were deemed wards of the state.

According to the Indiana Department of Child Services' child welfare manual, the court is involved when a physician or hospital contacts DCS about removing life support or issuing a "Do No Resuscitate" order for a child in the state's care.

The agency, however, makes no recommendations and takes no stand.

Melvin Jr. was diagnosed with anoxic brain injury, and his prognosis is poor. According to information presented at the hearing, the boy's brain cells were severely damaged.
Only his brain stem continues to function.

If Melvin Jr. does survive, he will have no sense of touch or feeling, said Thomas Brooks Jr., attorney for Tippecanoe County Court-Appointed Special Advocates.

Doctors at St. Vincent have recommended that the boy's life support be withdrawn.

His father disagrees. He testified that two CT scans of his son's brain - taken about two days apart - showed that swelling has subsided.

Moon also said the amount of oxygen that Melvin Jr. needs to help him breathe have dropped from a high of 56 to 57 percent to 22 to 25 percent.

"That means he's doing more breathing on his own - he's still here," Moon said. "He's fighting the machine and breathing on his own. ... It gives me more faith.

"I've seen it with my own eyes. There's hope."

The timing of Daniel's decision is crucial because the longer Melvin Jr. remains on his current ventilator tube, the higher the boy's risk of a lung infection.

If Daniel agrees with Moon, the next step for Melvin Jr. will be a tracheostomy, a surgical procedure to further help the boy breathe on his own.

Moon acknowledged that if Melvin Jr. does recover, the impact of his injuries will be severe. The boy will need two specially trained caretakers.

But Moon pointed to strong family support - his own and his wife's - and his church, Apostolic Faith Assembly in Lafayette.

"I will be with my decision throughout the rest of my life," Moon said. "We will never know what happens unless I have this opportunity."

Wheeler attended the hearing but did not testify. She remains in the Tippecanoe County Jail on a $100,000 surety bond