A.'s father Virginia is a little boy The victims all shared one common trait, even if the motive remains unclear, says who suffered a mysterious broken bone when he was a newborn in Richmond Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.
They were all boys.
They suffered various injuries, came from diverse families and had nothing else in common that the parents could identify, according to Dominic Haacke, whose young son, Noah, suffered an unexplained broken leg in September 2023.
“There were various injuries, and two boys sustained multiple injuries,” he told Fox News Digital. “Even now, in chatting among ourselves, we can't find a pattern as to why our children were otherwise just boys.”
Virginia nurse arrested after hospital closes ICU due to mysterious attacks on newborns
Erin Strootman is pictured in this photo taken on January 3, 2025. The Virginia registered nurse faces charges of child abuse and malicious injury in connection with an incident involving a newborn in a Richmond-area neonatal intensive care unit. Six similar cases are being investigated. (Henrico County Sheriff's Office)
Henrico Doctors Hospital closed its neonatal intensive care unit on Christmas Eve after authorities said they launched an internal investigation into a series of “unexplained fractures” of bones in newborn patients — three in the past two months that appeared similar to four more from 2023.
Henrico police arrested Erin Elizabeth Ann Strootman, a 26-year-old registered nurse, on Friday. Charges of malicious wounding Child abuse in one of the incidents. Police are investigating six other cases, including the Haki family case and three other cases that were reopened and closed without charges last year due to a lack of evidence.
While reports spread on social media that Strootman targeted children based on race, Haacke shot down those claims, telling Fox News Digital that only two of the victims were black. Haki said he had been in contact with all but one of the families of the other victims. He hopes to meet them too.
The identity of the victim Strootman is accused of wounding remains sealed by the court due to health care and juvenile privacy rules. She is scheduled to return to court in March.
Watch: The father reveals details of the mysterious attack on his newborn before the hospital closed the neonatal intensive care unit
Haki's son, Noah, was one of the 2023 victims, and until last month he was under the impression that his case was an isolated incident. He was told that officials suspected child abuse led to his son's broken leg, but investigators did not have enough evidence to bring charges.
When the hospital said it would close its neonatal intensive care unit on Christmas Eve, he said a friend sent him a news article, and he learned the attack on his son wasn't the only incident. He then began speaking out, raising awareness about his experience and the attack on his son, who was born at 28 weeks and six days.
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Hackey said he remembers Strotman from the family's stay in the neonatal intensive care unit but barely interacted with her. He remembers her as “nice” but “unimportant”.
Noah recovered from a mysterious broken bone that investigators say was caused by child abuse at a Virginia hospital where he was treated in the neonatal intensive care unit. (Courtesy of Dominic Haacke)
“It doesn't really matter whether you were there all day, or whether you weren't there all day. This person found a way to hurt our children,” he said. “This is the part that keeps me up at night, because the first emotion my son experienced was pain, and that's not supposed to happen. The first emotion is supposed to be joy and laughter, you know, and making funny faces at them. And unfortunately, that wasn't This is the case for my son and six other children.”
Haacke said he only recently learned that Strootman had been placed on paid leave at some point, evidence he says the hospital suspected wrongdoing long before police announced her arrest last week. Investigators have largely left him without updates after confirming they believe his son's injuries were the result of serious child abuse.
One of Huckie's twin sons is shown with a support brace on his ankle after suffering a freak injury, which investigators later consider to have been caused by a hospital worker in a twisty child abuse case. (Courtesy of Dominic Haacke)
The hospital is cooperating with investigators and has provided police with hundreds of hours of surveillance video.
The hospital said in a statement: “We are shocked and saddened by this development in the investigation and are focused on continuing to care for our patients and provide support to our colleagues who have been deeply and personally affected by this investigation.”
He said medical records show the injury occurred a day before Hakey's family was previously told. At the time of Noah's attack, the hospital had not yet installed surveillance cameras. Since then, it has provided 24-hour video surveillance as well as a way for parents to live stream their newborn's room, and no staff is allowed in without a second doctor for security purposes.
Noah Haacke is now 16 months old and has since recovered from his injury. (Courtesy of Dominic Haacke)
Police said they could not release many additional details about the case due to health care privacy laws. However, they are asking anyone with information that could help them press more charges Contact investigators At police@henrico.gov, visit P3tips.com or call Crime Stoppers at 804-780-1000.
He added: “Knowing that she was placed on paid leave because of our cases, and that the hospital suspected her, this is all new information… for all of us,” referring to his family and the five others with whom he had been in contact. with.
Micah and Noah Haakee are now 16 months old. His father told Fox News Digital that Noah has recovered from his injury and is now very active, and that his parents “can barely keep up.” (Courtesy of Dominic Haacke)
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Haki said he appointed a lawyer on Monday.
He said both twins were now happy and healthy, and the family was looking forward to moving on despite the traumatic experience.
“Having two miscarriages and then having twins, that's amazing,” he told Fox News Digital. “And having them here after being told that you might lose one of them, the whole pregnancy and then after the pregnancy, it's really a blessing, really a blessing. Not many people have the privilege of being parents, and you blessed me twice and it's over, so I'm going to do everything I can to protect them.”
