Tell City Couple Charged With Murder in 2-Year-Old Boy's Death

Tell City Police Department booking records show Trevor Reichard-Hayes, 39, and Katherine Carter, 31, were arrested Friday, April 3, on preliminary charges of murder and multiple counts of neglect of a dependent in connection with the death of 2-year-old Erik Reichard. Both were booked at the Perry County Jail and are being held without bond pending a final charging decision by the Perry County Prosecutor's Office.

Officers had responded to 81 Guttenberg Lane on Tuesday afternoon, March 31, after a 911 call reporting an unresponsive child. First responders pronounced Erik dead at the scene. The three days between that call and Friday's arrest reflect the scope of the investigation: Tell City detectives worked alongside the Perry County Coroner's Office, the Perry County Prosecutor's Office, and the Indiana Department of Child Services, and investigators remained at the Guttenberg Lane residence for several days processing evidence and conducting follow-up interviews.

During that investigation, DCS removed two other children from the home. Their placement and ongoing welfare are being managed through the DCS system, which maintains confidentiality around protective cases.

The murder and neglect charges filed Friday remain preliminary. As of Friday evening, no formal indictments or information filings had appeared in online Perry County court records. The Tell City Police Department has not publicly confirmed the relationship, if any, between the suspects and Erik, a detail prosecutors typically establish as a case moves toward formal charges.

Once the Perry County Prosecutor's Office files formal charges, Reichard-Hayes and Carter will face detention hearings and arraignment in Perry County Circuit Court. The Perry County Coroner's Office must also issue a formal autopsy report establishing cause and manner of death, a finding that typically anchors the prosecutor's final charging decision in cases of this nature.

For anyone with information about this case, the Tell City Police Department is the direct contact. To report suspected child abuse or neglect anywhere in Perry County, call the Indiana DCS Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week; reports can be made anonymously. The Perry County DCS local office is reachable at (812) 547-7055, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time. Residents processing distress or trauma can access the statewide Be Well crisis line by dialing 211 and selecting option 3, or reach Perry County Memorial Hospital's psychiatric and behavioral health services through its main campus in Tell City.

Perry County's child neglect figures have drawn state-level attention before: Indiana Youth Institute data recorded a neglect rate of 42 reported cases per 1,000 children in the county in 2015, the highest in Indiana at the time. Current figures are not broken out by county in publicly available DCS annual reports.