CASTLE HILLS, Texas – Police say it’s one of the worst cases of child abuse they’ve invesigated and officers need your help tracking the suspect down. Officers are searching for 31-year-old James Sterling Chapman. They say he beat a 10-year-old relative so severely, the boy was unable to sit down. “I see a few cases like this from time to time in our city, but nothing like this. This is pretty severe,” Sgt. Mark Pardaen said.

Lubbock police on Friday arrested a Lubbock teen mother after they said she fractured her 6-week-old daughter’s skull, causing the infant to have a stroke and brain hemorrhage. Officers took into custody Jasmine Nicole Francis, 19, on charges of intentionally causing serious bodily injury to her infant. She was booked into the Lubbock County Jail just before 2 p.m. Friday.

DENVER — The rate of child abuse and neglect in Colorado is on the rise, in sharp contrast to the rest of the nation, which has seen a decrease over the last several years. That troubling conclusion comes in a new report from the Kempe Center for Child Abuse and Prevention, based in Denver. The study has experts in this field asking some tough questions like:

WORCESTER — A mother and her boyfriend suspected in the beating death of the woman’s 4-year-old daughter were asked about physical abuse of the child months ago by a family doctor, according to court records. But Lymari Acevedo, 27, and her 33-year-old boyfriend, Richard Castillo, never returned to the doctor’s office for a follow-up visit, according to court records, and the suspected abuse was never referred to state agencies. The identity of the doctor was not revealed as the case is under investigation.

ONTARIO– An Ontario woman and her son were found dead in their home Friday night after what police believe was a murder-suicide. Officers responded to a home in the 900 block of East Rosewood Court around 8 p.m. after receiving a tip about a possible dead body. Two bodies, along with a hammer and knife, were found inside the residence.

SOUTH ST. LOUIS, MO —Steven McCoy, Jr., just 3 months old, died late Friday night at a St. Louis area hospital after suffering what Police are calling child abuse. The boy’s father, Steven McCoy Sr., 21, of South St. Louis, was charged Tuesday with first-degree assault and abuse of a child for allegedly beating his son.

HENLEY ON KLIP, South Africa — The body of a newborn baby was found in a plastic bag at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, police have confirmed. According to reports, a 17-year-old gave birth to the baby Wednesday. No word whether the baby had been murdered or died of natural causes.

In an interview set to broadcast Feb. 20, Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R) told CBS that he had been sexually abused by a camp counselor when he was 10 years old. Such an experience is more common than most people believe, according to researchers who specialize in studying childhood sexual abuse. But victims, especially male victims, often feel silenced by shame, researchers say.

A Maricopa County Superior Court judge convicted a Mesa man of killing his former-girlfriend’s 7-month-old son. On Friday, Justin Richard Sobolik, 30, was convicted of child abuse and first-degree murder for the August 2006 death of Logan Nicholas Balk, who was born one month premature. Judge Susanna Pineda scheduled Sobolik for sentencing March 18.

WILSON COUNTY — The Wilson County Sheriff Office is investigating a possible case of child abuse. Deputies say the child showed intentional signs of physical abuse and Shaken Baby Syndrome.

TUCSON – A 19-year-old man has been arrested and charged with First Degree Murder and five counts of Child Abuse in connection to the death of his 7 month old son. Pima Co. Sheriff’s detectives confirm to News 4 depuites responded to a residence in the area of Palo Verde Rd. South of Drexel around 7:30 am Thursday morning in reference to an infant not breathing.

Child and adolescent psychiatrists who treat emotionally vulnerable child abuse victims have stated in three surveys that publicity of these children’s stories may increase their mental health problems and make treatment more difficult and protracted. After a year of studying other open court systems as well as its own, the Connecticut Juvenile Access Pilot Program Advisory Board on Dec. 31 recommended against presumptively open juvenile courts.

The police investigation into former Beaverton Middle School math teacher Logan B. Jack Storm started last summer when his girlfriend discovered pornographic images on his laptop of 8- to 11-year-old girls having sex with adult males, according to court papers. The girlfriend told detectives with the Multnomah County child abuse team that her relationship had soured with Storm when she learned he was “spending time with a female who is a former student and is a stripper,” a search warrant affidavit says.

The charge against 18-year-old Zacchaeus Brown in connection with the death of his infant son has been upgraded to capital murder. Brown was originally charged with felony child abuse, even after 5-month-old Jaheem Brown died. But police said that charge would hinge upon what the autopsy revealed. It started Thursday afternoon at 203 Wilshire Avenue. AMR was called, and transported five-month-old Jaheem Brown to UMC.