Law&Crime Sidebar - Toddler with Severe Burns Points Finger at Mom’s Boyfriend

Episode Date: April 13, 2025

Louisville mother Breanna Lair and her boyfriend Jacob Sneed have both been arrested, after Lair’s 3-year-old ended up in the emergency room with severe burns to his hands. An investigation revealed that Sneed allegedly held the toddler’s hands and forearms in the scalding water. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber got insight on Kentucky investigations from Bullitt County Col. Alex Payne.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If your child, under 21, has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or fatty liver disease, visit https://forthepeople.com/food to start a claim now!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A Louisville mother and her boyfriend are now behind bars after their three-year-old boy suffered horrific burns. And police say they waited hours before getting him help. And even worse than that, the mother allegedly lied to medical staff and CPS had already banned the boyfriend from being near the child. Now, shocking new details reveal allegations of a disturbing cover-up and a little boy's chilling words. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. A Louisville mother and her boyfriend are behind bars after a three-year-old boy suffered horrific burns to his hands and his forearms.

And the couple allegedly waited three hours before rushing him to the hospital. This is all according to police. In this disturbing case, it is outlined in a criminal complaint that has been obtained by law and crime. And we're talking not only the boy's injuries, but the couple's alleged cover-up. There is a chilling violation of a child protective services order as well that's now in the mix with all this as well. So a lot to unpack here, but I want to start at the beginning when the boy was first rushed to the hospital. So according to Louisville Metro Police Department records, officers were called on April 6th after

the three-year-old was brought to Norton Children's Hospital with severe burns. that were, quote, consistent from burns from being submerged in a hot liquid. Now, medical staff immediately recognized this, but the child allegedly told detectives something horrifying. They didn't really have to search that deep because according to reporting from WDRB, he said, quote, Jacob did this to my hands. Now, the child was describing 25-year-old Jacob Sneed, the boyfriend of his mother, 24-year-old Brianna Lair. WDRB also reported. reported the boy told police Sneed put his hands in, quote, extremely hot water in the sink

while he was left alone with him. And once detectives were made aware of this, they arrested Sneed Sneed later that day. Police also arrested the boy's mother, Brianna Lair, after she made some allegedly shocking admissions to police, by the way. We're going to get into that in a minute. But first, I want to bring on a special guest to help break this down. We're joined once again by Colonel Alex Payne of the Bullitt County Sheriff's Office. Thank you, Colonel, for taking the time. I'm really appreciate it. It's good seeing you. Yes, sir. Good seeing you. Just your initial impressions on a case like this?

I mean, it's pretty horrifying to say the least. Sick stuff. You know, we've had this conversation before about the impact that crimes against children has on everyone. You know, the officers involved, the families, the community, the whole nine yards. And unfortunately, this is yet another example of that. When you get a report from the hospital that there might be an instance of child abuse, How does, what's the protocol on that? How does it usually work?

Well, detectives are usually dispatched to that particular hospital. I'm familiar with Norton Children's Hospital. It's an outstanding facility and a Louisville Metro Police. That's an outstanding department, you know, here in our state. And it looks like they work together very quickly and efficiently to get some people at least locked up and into the system for committing this horrendous crime. But the first thing off the bat is, you know, we could report like this. that. And hospital personnel, usually around the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I can tell you,

you're pretty good, about recognizing signs of abuse, you know, in children that come into their facilities. And when they do that, then they automatically contact law enforcement and we respond. Yeah, I was going to ask you about that, because in any case, you could wonder, oh, is this intentional, oh, is this accidental domestic violence situations? Of course, when you're dealing with children and something of these injuries, you know, I say it all the time, children get hurt, there's bumps, there's bruises, they run around. This could have been, you know, this could be in another scenario, an accident, child gets burned from hot water, it happens.

So how do you know whether or not something is an accident or something is a crime that it was intentionally inflicted? What are some pieces of evidence you look for? Well, one of the things, especially here, you know, is the age of the child. It's, in this case, for example, this three-year-old was able to literally tell, you know, investigators who did this to him, you know, and so, you know, right there, that's good. It gets more difficult, in some ways, easier in others as, you know, the children get younger and maybe they can't express themselves verbally. But you look at, it's just a matter of matching up the totality of the circumstances with the end. injuries that you have present and do they mesh?

Do they make sense? Do they it be almost like taking, you know, some puzzle pieces and do they interlock? Do they fit? If they don't fit, then, you know, we've got a problem, you know, and there are things that we need to, you know, to start to look in there. And it's, uh, that's just some of the stuff. But the older the child is and especially a child that can verbalize, uh, like in this case, it makes it, it makes it easier.

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to learn more. Talking about that, how do you do that specialized forensic interview with a young child like this? Those people are special. They, you know, the people that deal with this on a daily basis, whether they're part of a particular unit or, you know, that's just their job, you know, in general to conduct these, these interviews, have highly specialized training. that they go through in order to perform those particular interviews and then sort of help law enforcement cipher out, you know, what has come out of that particular interview. And I know we've used forensic interviews numerous times. We'll probably still continue to do that. And there's special people, very well trained and a definite asset. It's not an easy job for a number of different

reasons, not an easy job. And also trying to get to the bottom of what happens. So I, imagine that in your career you have seen instances where if the allegations are true that the significant other of a parent so a boyfriend a girlfriend they're sometimes the ones who inflict the abuse on the child again these are allegations innocent so proven guilty but i'm sure you see that how do you determine first of all a how why does that happen i mean and the the parent doesn't stop it and b how do you determine whether something was abuse was inflicted by one person or it was joined? Well, those are good questions and that's all part of the investigatory process that law enforcement is going to go through to determine those things.

In the first part of those investigations, they're not unlike many others that involve violence at home or in the home. We're going to start, you can kind of picture it just like concentric circles. we're going to start in a very tight circle and that means people that are close in proximity in relation and we're going to start there and see what we find and then gradually work our way out and so usually you know when you start there in that close that close knit circle say of family members of neighbors of so it's when i say close knit it's not just distance but you know it's also relatives. And we start looking there. Unfortunately, a lot of the times those, when we start looking in those particular areas, we're successful, you know, as far as finding the people that

may be responsible for, you know, these particular crimes. And so it's, and you see this all the time where someone has a relationship and, you know, that they have a child. That relationship goes south. Those people separate. They go their separate ways. And then whoever the child is with, with, you know, they're raising that child and then all of a sudden life goes on and they bring someone else into that close-knit circle. And a lot of times, you know, you'll see problems, you know, right there when, you know, they'll have, you know, someone else coming in who has issues who may, you know, be very well be the perpetrator of, you know, these particular crimes. So it's just you have to start tight and then work your way out.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And I want to get a little bit more into this. I want to expand upon what happened in this case. So as I mentioned, you have these horrifying deeds. details of this alleged incident. They're described in this by police and Jacobs-Steed's arrest affidavits. Let me go to that. So according to this filing, it reads, Jacob's Need was charged with assault first degree and criminal abuse first degree for intentionally submerging the three-year-old victim's hands in extremely hot water, causing the described serious physical injuries. Now, I will say, perhaps even more shocking than the burns themselves was what happened or maybe didn't happen next, because we told you earlier that Breaunt

Lear, the mother here, also spoke to police, and it did end up resulting in her arrest, but what exactly did she tell them? Well, according to the affidavit, Breonna Lear, the mother of the victim and the girlfriend of the suspect, gave a recorded Miranda's statement to OSPI detectives. In that statement, she admits to leaving the child alone with the suspect for approximately one hour. The suspect had been previously ordered not to do so by CPS due to an ongoing criminal abuse investigation involving Jacob's need and the three-year-old victim. Now, the details of that

CPS investigation haven't been disclosed cases ongoing. But so far, we're hearing that this mother allegedly told police that she left her son alone with a man being actively investigated by an agency for potentially abusing that young child. I want everybody to think about that. Let that sink in for a second. Colonel, what do you take away from that? Stupid. I mean, that's all you can say. I mean, it's just there's absolutely no reason, you know, that you would think that any rational human being would allow their child, especially after being subjected to an order from child protective services not to do it. And obviously, she has some knowledge of whatever that previous violation or criminal abuse investigation was and disregards all of that information and still

chooses, still individually chooses to leave that child with the potential abuser. I'm talking from the first case. And so, you know, you can't, there is no explanation for that. I mean, that's, it's, well, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. What are the mechanisms, if any, that police have to make sure that kind of order is being, you know, is being satisfied that the person who's the subject of it is complying with it? Or is it just, hey, listen, this is the order they better follow it. It's not like we're actively watching them or policing them in any way or putting any kind of safeguards. Right. You know, those orders that come from CPS, you know, that's their investigation. And, you know, they're pretty much, you know, letting them know, you know, this is what you need to do,

you know, in order to stay in compliance with us and, and help us along and help us do what's best for your child. Now, you know, they tell these people this, you know, and in, and in this, this case and probably like in many others you may as well be talking to the nearest coffee bug because it's they're not going they're going to end up doing what they want to do anyway there's not enough of them there's not enough of us i say us in law enforcement there's not enough social workers people in social services where we can literally plant you know somebody there and watch these people 24 7 365 i would hope you know maybe in the future you know with technology I know we've got, you know, things like ankle bracelets and monitors and cameras and things of that nature.

Maybe, you know, get some groups together to come up with something that may improve, you know, our ability to do that. You know, or, you know, we can monitor things like that. But right now, really all you're doing is you're giving them, you know, here's what you need to do. Here is our order for you. And then that's it. You just hope and pray that they comply. But, you know, as we've seen here and we'll probably, unfortunately, see again, people don't always comply. And, you know, I mentioned it before, there is still more of what she told police.

It doesn't just end on that because when she returned home and apparently saw the severity of her son's injuries, she allegedly did something even more unthinkable. According to the affidavit, quote, after discovering the severity of the burns inflicted on the victim by Jacob Sneed, the suspect admits to waiting up to three hours before seeking medical attention for the three-year-old victim. again her child but that's not it that's there's even more according to police when layer arrived at the hospital she told police she even lied to medical staff about the child's condition that's a big allegation according to the affidavit once the child was taken to the ER the suspect admits to providing false information to the hospital's medical staff regarding the child's wounds and how he received them the totality of the

suspect's intentional actions lead to the victim whom the suspect has parental custody over being placed in a situation in which he received serious physical injuries. Colonel, back to you, when a caregiver admits to delaying medical treatment, do you think there are additional charges beyond criminal abuse here? The idea, I was wondering, does, and also, you know, allegedly lying about what the injuries were, I was thinking is there an obstruction charge under state law that might have come into play here?

What do you think? That'll be up to the prosecution in this particular case. And I'm sure they will dig through everything statutorily available to them and apply that, you know, in this case, given the age of the victim, the severity of the injuries and so forth. It's, again, you know, it's as bad as this is, it could have been worse, you know, the child could be dead. Thank God that, you know, people down there at. the hospital at Norton's again outstanding facility and the good people at LNPD were able to recognize and see through the lies you know that that you mentioned and and pretty much get to the heart of this and what has happened and now we have you know people that have been arrested and

they're now in the system so and when I say that you know in the system there is where the prosecution there's where they take this case up and they start to do their job and you know that is to put the best case that they possibly can based upon the evidence that they have together in front of a potentially a jury and then let the citizens of Jefferson County decide what's to happen to these two people. And I hope that happens. Well, let's talk about that criminal case because both Sneed and Laird, they were arrested. They were booked into the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. Sneed was charged with first degree assault and first degree criminal abuse of a child under 12.

And while Lair also faces a charge of first degree criminal abuse of a child under 12, just an aside to all this. the Commonwealth of Kentucky, criminal abuse in the first degree is a class C felony unless the person is under the age of 12, which in this case means that this would be a class B felony and a person could be punished 10 to 20 years in prison. First degree assault also considered a class B felony punishable by the same range of prison time. So that means that theoretically Laird could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted and Sneed could face up to 40 years if convicted on both charges and if the sentences run consecutively.

Now, Colonel, correct me if I'm wrong about any of that, but you're seeing the different liability, at least by which prosecutors and investigators believe who did what. And it does make me wonder, does it tell you something about this investigation? Does it tell you something about the criminal liability? Does it tell you something about the relationship between these two and what they're accused of those charges?

You know, to me, and again, this is just speculation on my part and just looking at what we have. But, you know, you've obviously got, you know, they work together at least for a while. I can tell you for at least three hours, you know, according to, you know, what you've read, what I've got in front of me, you know, probably trying to think up a story, for example. You know, let's try to, you know, explain this stuff away before she absolutely, you know, came out with the truth. But at the end of the day, not only, you know, these are the charges that we have right now.

There's nothing that prevents the prosecution, you know, or the commonwealth. pending, you know, the completion of the investigation to even come up with more. And so, you know, this is what we've got right now. But again, like I said, I think they did an outstanding job. And hopefully justice will be served in this case. Do investigators now go back and try to see if there were prior instances of abuse? Do they speak to this child again? How would they even investigate it?

Because you look at something like this, an allegation like this. And you say to yourself, you know, look at the CPS investigation as well, do you know, they go back further? What are their mechanisms they can use to actually try to see what was happening in that household? Well, there you go back to that forensic interview. You know, if there's something, say, for example, that comes out in that, that would trigger a closer look at something else that happened in the past. And I firmly believe that, you know, that would occur. They will do everything they can to kind of piece together, you know, sneeds. evidently because there's a case prior to this one, you know, that Sneeds involved in.

And so that may also trigger, you know, them going back further, you know, as far as his location, where he's been, were there any children around, what's happened with them, and so forth and so on. So I think that'll just be part of the general investigation where it takes in because, you know, every time you turn over a stone, you know, there's something else there that may lead you in a different direction to turn over more stones. And, you know, if that's the case, I've got confidence in LMPD and those folks involved in this investigation, that that will happen. Are there missing protocols? I mean, are there initiatives that you think are essential to support and protect vulnerable

children in the community? If you look at a situation like this, and again, you could just make the assumption here, maybe not even in this case, but in cases in general, where a parent who is in a relationship with someone who's abusive, they may cover up for them. They may be in fear for them. They may not report what this person does to their own child. What initiatives as a member of law enforcement do you think need to be taken in order to protect, protect vulnerable children? There are, you know, there's, I know for a fact, you know, in the city of Louisville, you know, there's, there's all kinds of things that, you know, in programs and organizations that people could reach out to.

But the key point there is reaching out. you know, there's no mind reading organization that can go around, you know, and do that on their own. They have to be supplied with information before they can help. And that's the whole key. It was convincing people that, you know, there are places they can go. There are people that they can contact. There are numbers that they can call. There's hotlines. There's all kinds of things that they can reach out to where they could hopefully get help from the community to keep something like this from happening. But if those folks never reach out, if they're, well, like in this case, if they're a part of the problem and they're not looking to solve the problem, you know,

the net information is never going to come forward. It's, and it all comes down to, you know, it's parents. That poor child couldn't pick his parents, unfortunately. And this is who he ended up with. And, you know, God loving, you know, it's going to be a horrible thing for him, you know, to overcome this. You know, hopefully he'll have the tools, the resources available to him as he grows older, you know, to overcome this. But at least here, like I said, there's people that'll be held responsible. Talking about protections, I wanted your opinion about one last thing. So as, and this is a legal aside. So we did some digging into the Kentucky statute surrounding the criminal abuse charge.

And we found some really interesting history why it is now considered a Class B felony if the child's under 12. So back in 2022, the current governor of Kentucky, Andy Bashir, signed what is known as Cammy's law into effect. It was a law named after a nine-month-old baby, Cammy Belongi, who was beaten so badly by her mother's boyfriend, Paul Rack, that she spent months in a hospital, even had to go into a rehab facility. She suffered a brain injury, rendered her nonverbal. She had to learn again how to crawl and sit up. Really disgusting. Now, Rack was convicted of abusing Camie, but he didn't even serve five years in prison. And after hearing of Cammy's story, a seventh grader, seventh grader posed the bill to Governor

Bashir, he officially signed it into law on March 25, 2022, saying in a statement to Spectrum News, HB 263, that was the name of the bill, means that those who commit one of the most atrocious acts possible against Kentucky's children, acts that steal individuals' childhood and trust, and violates them in ways most of us can never comprehend, will face increased penalties, ensuring those heinous crimes are treated as such. And this ties us directly back to the case, right, where Sneed could end up facing a much harsher penalty now if he's found guilty thanks to this law.

And at their arraignment on April 8th, both pleaded not guilty. Sneed's bond was set at $15,000 cash. Lear's bond was set at $10,000. Their next court hearing scheduled for April 15th. Colonel, this is a big legislative change. You know, have you seen the impact of it, your thoughts on it, has it led to potentially deterring this kind of behavior? Talk to us about it.

Well, let me say this first off. That's a big step forward for the Commonwealth Kentucky, was and is. Because as far as deterrence, these people who are, well, let's just put it this way, just that evil, there's nothing that any other group of human beings, a legislator, that a governor can approve that's going to change their mind. I'll put it that way. So evil's out there. now what this does come down to if law enforcement as far as if we working together with the agencies the hospitals

and things of that nature if we locate these perpetrators of these heinous crimes then yeah they're going to suffer more and they should and there there's no doubt in my mind you know they i think that's a you know that particular bill was a great start like i said it's a step forward for the commonwealth of Kentucky. And, uh, but as far as deterrence, uh, you know, I, again, you know, and I've said this before, man, there's, there's, there's just evil out there. I don't know how we, uh, a government, an entity, an organization can reach into people's hearts and change that because that's what it would literally take. And, uh, but as long as those people out there, as long as they exist, at least now in the commonwealth, we have harsher penalties waiting for them

on the other side. By the way, one more shocking detail about all this emerged about Lair. So Lair's background, more specifically, according to reporting from WDRB, she apparently worked as an instructional assistant at Wheeler Elementary School in Kentucky's Jefferson County. Now, the outlet reports that a district spokesperson confirmed her employment could not say whether she's been suspended or fired, but my gosh, Colonel, what do you think of that? Doesn't surprise me.

I mean, I've been in this over 40 years, man. I mean, it's, no, it's sickening, but it doesn't surprise me. Colonel Alex Payne, thank you so much for taking the time. I know this is a difficult case, another difficult case that we cover, but, you know, I really, really appreciate your insight into this and your expertise, and thank you so much for taking the time. Yes, sir, any time. All right, everybody, that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.