On the evening of March nineteenth, 2013, Ashlee Smith was halfway through her shift at Pizza Hut when her phone rang.

Just hours earlier, she had walked out the door after leaving her two young children in the care of her sixteen-year-old boyfriend, Dylan Schumaker.

At that time, both boys were unharmed. There were no bruises. No signs of distress. Nothing to suggest that anything was wrong.

Now, on the other end of the line, Dylan’s mother was telling Ashlee she needed to come home immediately — that an ambulance was already on the way for her toddler son.

Her twenty-three-month-old son, Austin Smith, was in critical condition.

By the time she reached the house, an ambulance was already pulling away, rushing Austin to hospital without her.

What had unfolded during those few short hours inside the home — and would Austin survive?

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