The father of a Virginia hospital NICU attack victim says the babies had one thing in common
Father a A child from Virginia who suffered a mysterious broken bone as a newborn in the neonatal intensive care unit of a Richmond hospital, says the victims all had one thing in common, though the motive remains unclear.
They were all boys.
They suffered different injuries, came from different families and had nothing else in common that the parents could identify, according to Dominique Hackey, whose infant son Noah suffered an unexplained tibia fracture in September 2023.
“There were different injuries, and two of the boys had multiple injuries,” he told Fox News Digital. “So far, talking to each other, we can’t find a pattern as to why our babies were boys, besides.”
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Erin Strotman is pictured in this photo taken on Jan. 3, 2025. A registered nurse from Virginia faces charges of child abuse and malicious wounding in connection with an incident involving a newborn in intensive care in Richmond. Six similar cases are under investigation. (Henrico County Sheriff’s Office)
Henrico Doctors Hospital closed its NICU on Christmas Eve after authorities said they were launching an internal investigation into a series of “unexplained bone fractures” in newborns — three in the past two months that looked similar to four more in 2023.
Henrico police arrested Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, a 26-year-old registered nurse, on Friday charges of malicious wounding and child abuse for one of the incidents. Police are investigating six more, including the Hackeys’ case and three other reopened cases that were closed without charges last year due to lack of evidence.
Although reports circulated on social media that Strotman allegedly targeted children based on race, Hackey dismissed the claims, telling Fox News Digital that only two of the victims were black. Hackey said he has been in contact with all but one of the other victims’ families. And he hopes to meet them.
The identity of the victim that Strotman has been accused of wounding until now remains sealed in court due to health protection and privacy rules for minors. She is due back in court in March.
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Hackey’s son, Noah, was one of 2,023 victims, and until last month he was under the impression that his case was an isolated incident. He was told that officials suspected his son’s broken tibia was due to child abuse, but investigators did not have enough evidence to file charges.
When the hospital announced it was closing the NICU on Christmas Eve, he said a friend sent him a newspaper article and learned that the attack on his son was not the only incident. That’s when he started speaking out publicly, raising awareness about his experience and the attack on his son, who was born at 28 weeks and six days.
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Hackey said he remembers Strotman from the family’s intensive care stay, but hardly interacted with her. He remembers her as “nice”, but “insignificant”.
Noah has recovered from a mysterious bone fracture that investigators say was caused by child abuse at a Virginia hospital where he was being treated in the neonatal intensive care unit. (Courtesy of Dominique Hackey)
“It really didn’t matter if you were there all day, if you were gone all day. That person found a way to still hurt our children,” he said. “That’s the part that keeps me up at night, because the first emotion my son experienced was pain, and that shouldn’t happen. The first emotion should be joy and laughter, you know, making funny faces at them. And that, unfortunately, it was not the case with my son and six other boys.”
Hackey said he only recently learned Strotman was placed on paid leave at some point, evidence he says shows the hospital suspected wrongdoing long before police announced her arrest last week. Investigators have largely kept him quiet after confirming they believe his son’s injuries were the result of severe child abuse.
One of Hackey’s twin sons was shown wearing a brace on his ankle after suffering a bizarre injury, which investigators later believed was caused by a hospital worker in a twisted case of child abuse. (Courtesy of Dominique Hackey)
The hospital is cooperating with investigators and has provided police with hundreds of hours of video surveillance.
“We are both shocked and saddened by this development in the investigation and are focused on continuing to care for our patients and support our colleagues who have been deeply and personally affected by this investigation,” the hospital said in a statement.
Medical records show the injury was inflicted a day earlier than the Hackeys were previously told, he said. At the time of Noah’s attack, the hospital had not yet installed surveillance cameras. Since then, 24-hour video surveillance has been introduced, as well as a means for parents to live-stream their newborn’s room, and no staff are allowed in without another clinician for safety reasons.
Now 16 months old, Noah Hackey has recovered from his injury. (Courtesy of Dominique Hackey)
Police said they could not release many additional details about the case due to health care privacy laws. However, they are appealing to anyone with information that could help them file additional charges contact detectives at police@henrico.gov, visit P3tips.com or call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
“Finding out that she was placed on paid leave in connection with our cases, that the hospital suspected her, that’s all new information … for all of us,” he said, referring to his family and five others he’s been in contact with. with.
Micah and Noah Hackey are now 16 months old. Noah has recovered from his injury and is now so active that his parents “can barely keep up,” his father told Fox News Digital. (Courtesy of Dominique Hackey)
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Hackey said he hired an attorney Monday.
Both twins are now happy and healthy, he said, and the family wants to move forward despite the traumatic experience.
“Having two miscarriages and then having twins, it’s unbelievable,” he told Fox News Digital. “And to have them both here after being told you might lose one of them, the whole pregnancy and then the pregnancy, it’s truly a blessing, truly a blessing. Not many people have the privilege of being parents, and I’ve been blessed twice almost, so I will do everything I can to protect them.”
