Video shows woman getting angry at toddler before he was burned by hot bathwater

GILLETTE — A two-year-old Gillette boy was flown to Denver after suffering burns he received after his aunt left him in a bathtub for a few minutes.

Raeanna Sams, 23, was arrested Nov. 16 and has been charged in Circuit Court with one count of felony child abuse.

Camera footage from Sams’ house showed her getting upset and yelling at the two-year-old for soiling his diaper before she put him in the bathtub.

On Nov. 16, police responded to the emergency room for a report of child abuse.

The ER doctor on duty told police that two parents showed up to the hospital with their two-year-old son who had substantial burn marks, which were blistering, on his back and buttocks. The parents said that Sams, the father’s sister, had placed the boy in a hot bath.

The doctor told police that the child looked like he had been “dipped in boiling water,” according to an affidavit of probable cause, and he showed them photos of the injuries, which included redness, with large sores and blisters filling with a dark yellow liquid, running from his butt to the middle of his back.

The boy’s parents do not live together. 

While he is at work, the boy’s father usually has Sams babysit the boy. On Nov. 16, Sams had taken the boy to her home in Gillette. At about 12:30 p.m., she called her brother, saying he needed to take the boy to the hospital because he had been burned.

When the father arrived, Sams told him that the boy had pooped in his diaper and it was coming out of his pajamas. She took him to the bathroom and placed him in the bathtub and took off his clothes. She said she turned the water on, went downstairs to put the dirty clothes in the washing machine, then returned to the bathroom, where she found the boy screaming, according to court documents.

She said he had redness but no blisters on his back. Once the blisters started forming, she called her brother.

The boy’s mom said she had previously reported Sams to the police for child abuse allegations, and she believed Sams had burned the child on purpose that day.

Sams would later tell police that the boy requires prosthetics to move and walk normally.

After talking to the parents, investigators talked to the ER doctor again and looked at more pictures of the injuries. Along with burn marks, there was a large black and blue bruise on the “entirety” of the boy’s forehead, according to the affidavit.

The boy also had large bruises and marks under his eyes, and there was bruising throughout his scalp that wasn’t covered by hair. There was a large “lashing” mark on his back as well.

Investigators then got a hold of Sams, who gave substantially the same information as her brother. However, she said that when she returned to the bathroom, the hot water knob had been turned as far as it would go, and the cold water was turned off, according to court documents.

The bathroom was steaming, and when she touched the water in the bathtub, she burned her hand.

When Sams was asked about the boy’s bruising, she claimed her six-year-old son had hit the toddler with a play sword. She also said that while she was taking the boy’s clothes off in the bathtub, he fell on his bottom.

Police called the Department of Family Services and relayed the story, and the agency asked them to go to Sams’ home. She was there and explained all the same information she had given officers on the phone. She said that when she found the boy in the bathtub, he was throwing himself around, and she didn’t see any blisters initially.

Police learned the inside of the house had a functioning camera system. Video footage showed Sams wiping something off of the floor and swearing as she yelled at the boy to go to the bathroom.

She yelled at him again, telling him to hurry up, and she can be heard saying “F---ing disgusting!”

A camera directly across from the bathroom did not record anything going on in the bathroom because the door was shut, but from the audio, police could hear banging noises and Sams yelling at the boy, followed by cries from the boy, according to the affidavit.

After this, Sams went downstairs with a white trash bag, leaving the boy alone in the bathtub. She returned two to three minutes later. She came down the stairs holding the boy, then sat down on the floor and continued to yell at the boy. The footage didn’t show what Sams was doing, but she told police she was putting ointment on the child.

DFS spoke with Sams’ six-year-old son who she alleged hit the toddler with a sword. The older boy said Sams had instructed him to tell police that he hit the younger boy with a sword. He said he saw Sams push the two-year-old and he heard the child crying.

In a later interview with police, the boy didn’t clarify whether he was instructed to lie, but he did say he saw his mother washing the two-year-old with a detachable shower head.

Police learned that due to the severity of the boy’s injuries, he was flown to Denver for further treatment.

This story was published on Nov. 21, 2025.