NICU nurse charged with crimes tried to watch their baby while on leave: 'We dodged a monster'

To say the birth of Michele and Jake Salmons' second son at 38 weeks and 6 days did not go as planned is an understatement.

“He was born without a heartbeat, he wasn't breathing, his Apgar score was one. I think they could have just declared him dead,” Michele Salmons said.

Michele’s uterus ruptured on Nov. 15, 2023, at Henrico Doctors' Hospital, leading to an emergency C-section delivery and rescue operation.

“They did CPR and assisted breathing for seven minutes and brought him back to life and that was the start of his life,” Jake said.

Last May, Michele put a help wanted ad on Facebook in the hopes of finding in-home nursing care for Harvey at their Chesterfield home. She interviewed several nurses before finding the right one.

Michele never thought twice about the other applicants until early January of this year.

"I texted my husband and I said I interviewed a girl named Erin from Henrico Doctors' Hospital, and almost immediately that text came back and he said it was her,” Michele said.

That would be Erin Strotman, a nurse now charged with abusing a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit at Henrico Doctors’.

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