Katie 
Trussville, Alabama: An investigation was launched on January 21, 2021 when a Spanish-speaking girl was brought into Children's of Alabama hospital with a number of health issues which included bruises, scratches and lacerations on her spine, legs, arms, and feet as well as the loss of a significant amount of weight.
Due to the nature of the issues, the hospital contacted the Alabama Department of Human Resources who in turn contacted the Trussville Police Department.
"The details of this investigation are very disturbing to me," Trussville Police Chief Eric Rush said. "Our detectives took this case and did an excellent job in protecting this child from further abuse."
At the time of her discharge from the hospital the girl's adopted mother, 39-year-old Kala Kameron Blakely was given instructions on how to care for the child which the investigators found she ignored.
Blakely is a married mother of three who works as an assistant professor at the UAB School of Nursing where she graduated twice, and also runs the Hometown Family Medicine clinic in Moody. Additionally she was awarded the Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence in 2018 according to AL.com.
It was Friday, October 22 that charges were announced form a grand jury indictment which led to the arrest of Blakely on a charge of aggravated child abuse. She was booked into the Jefferson County Jail.
Yesterday, she posted a bond of $60,000 and gained her release. Her court date is not listed.
AL.com also indicates that she was additionally charged with attempted murder, but that charge was not included on her jail records.
Citing the indictment, Blakely was accused of attempting to intentionally cause the death of the girl she had only recently adopted "by medical neglect and/or strangulation and/or starvation and/or beating her." The grand jury additionally found reason to believe that Blakely "did willfully torture" the girl by "hitting her and/or stomping on her and/or refusing her medical treatment, and/or starving her" in instances where the abuse took place "on more than one occasion."
A spokesperson with UAB told WBRC that Blakely had been placed on administrative leave.
The 12-year-old girl is no longer in Blakely's custody. It is not known whether the other three children suffered any abuse.
Contributor
