Alabama Nurse Charged With Child Abuse Also Indicted on Attempted Murder

Blakely, a nurse practitioner in Alabama charged with aggravated child abuse, also faces a charge of attempted murder, according to new court documents released this week.

The claims against her are related to a 12-year-old girl whom she adopted.

A Jefferson County grand jury issued the indictment against Blakely on Oct. 22.

The indictment states that Blakely attempted to cause the death of the girl by an overt act towards the commission of the crime of murder “by medical neglect and/or strangulation and/or starvation and/or beating her.”

Blakely has been accused of attempting to murder a 12-year-old by “hitting her and/or stomping on her and/or refusing her medical treatment, and/or starving her”. This allegedly happened more than once.

The investigation started when the victim was taken to Children’s of Alabama, in early January. The child was then given back to Blakely, who is married and has three other kids. The adoptive mother was given specific instructions by the doctors, however investigators found she refused to follow them.

Prosecutors said the child sustained a range of injuries including bruises, scratches and lacerations on her spine, legs, arms and feet. She has also lost a significant amount of weight

Rush called the details of the investigation “very disturbing.”

The child had only been with Blakely for several months and was no longer in her care.

According to her online biographies and the website for Hometown Family Medicine, Blakely is a two-time UAB School of Nursing alumna and served as an assistant professor at the School of Nursing. She received the Nurse Practitioner State Award for Excellence in 2018.