8 Year-Old Beaten For Hours

Authorities are searching for the step-mother of an 8 year old girl who was beaten for hours and is now hospitalized in critical condition with kidney and liver problems.  Kara LeBlanc is wanted by the police both here and in Florida on warrants charging her with with first-degree assault and criminal restraint.

Kara is alleged to have beaten the child with a belt, so much so that the belt broke.  She is also alleged to have repeatedly pushed the child down the stairs, dragging her back up, then pushing her down again.  Authorities believe that it was this that caused most of the injuries to the child.

“She force-fed some food, tied (the child) up — hands and feet tied — up to a door at one point,” Webster police Lt. Phil Mitchell said.

Initially, the girl was taken to Concord Hospital where staff alerted police to the abuse.  Because of the extensive injuries she was transported to Childrens Hospital in Boston where she was placed in the intensive care unit in critical condition.  Webster Police Chief, Brian Milano, says that, although critical, her condition is slowly improving.

Police know that LeBlanc had tickets for a flight from Manchester to Orlando and have notified Florida authorities to be on the lookout for her.  Her exact location is not known but authority has been given for the police to extradite from any state.

Update 7/16/08:

Kara LeBlanc was arrested yesterday afternoon in Coral Gables, Florida by local police and federal marshalls when she left a friend’s house where she had been staying.  If she waives extradition she should be returned to New Hampshire within a few days to face felony charges.

Webster police have indicated that the girl is improving but it will be some time before she  is well again.  More of her injuries have been made public in addition to the liver and kidney problems.  She was covered with black and blue marks from the beating and has three broken ribs and three broken vertebrae in her neck.