Pueblo couple arrested for child abuse after claiming to be randomly attacked

A couple in Pueblo is accused of physically abusing their child to the point of being in critical condition at a Denver hospital, and police say they initially lied about what happened.

According to the Pueblo Police Department, Faith Hughes, 20, went to a hospital around 3 a.m. Friday morning with her 23-month-old son, who was unresponsive and had severe injuries.

Hughes first said that she was walking in east Pueblo with her son when they were “assaulted by unknown parties.” Police later found that wasn’t true and that Hughes had been dropped off at the hospital by the child’s father, 21-year-old Skyler Chapman.

Investigators discovered that the child had been physically abused by Hughes and Chapman — the child’s body was bruised throughout, and he had multiple brain bleeds. He was flown to the Denver Children’s Hospital and is in “critical and seriously unstable condition.”

Hughes and Chapman were booked into the Pueblo County Detention Center on charges of child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury.