WELLSBURG — A Colliers woman has been charged with child abuse causing bodily injury and gross child neglect causing risk of death or serious injury in a case investigated by the West Virginia State Police.

Kelanie B. Blanton, 27, of Colliers faces the charges in Brooke County Magistrate Court, where her case is pending.

According to the criminal complaint filed against her, Blanton admitted to yanking her infant child from its car seat while stating it wasn’t her intention to harm the child.

State Police were called to investigate after the child was taken by Blanton to WVU Medicine-Weirton Medical Center and later to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Children’s Hospital, where the child was found to have a fractured skull and bruises to a knee, thigh and buttocks.

The complaint states Blanton initially suggested the injuries may have occurred while at a babysitter’s.

Police reported, during their investigation, they learned another child in Blanton’s care had been sleeping in a basement area where they found moldy walls and dog feces and trash on the floor.

They said Blanton put the infant to bed in the basement, without a monitor, on the night before she took it to the hospital.