Grand Haven parents charged with child abuse after infant nearly freezes to death in car

Author: Carla Bayron - WZZM

Published: 5:31 PM EST February 24, 2023

Updated: 5:42 PM EST February 24, 2023

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Two Grand Haven parents are accused of passing out in the front seats of a parked car for hours, leaving their baby in the back to nearly freeze to death.

According to court documents, the infant's parents, Philip Nass, 32, and Crystal Kanouse, 30, told police they used meth within the last several days and were probably going through detox.

The Grand Haven Department of Public Safety responded to a 911 call on Jan. 29 for a car that was parked in the middle of the roadway facing the wrong direction. It was surrounded by large amounts of snow that the plow had gone by.

The car wasn't running and the caller saw a man unresponsive inside.

Once firefighters arrived, they found Nass in the front seat. Kanouse was in the passenger seat covered in her own vomit.

Their four-month-old boy was in the backseat in an unsecured car seat, and was cold to the touch with no coat or blanket. 

He was also covered in his own urine and feces.

Medics rushed him to a hospital for treatment, and he has since recovered. He has also been placed into foster care.

In the court transcript, a detective told the judge: "...When I asked them if they remembered the last time they had fed their baby, they said no. I asked them the last time they changed their baby, they said no. They didn't recall the previous day. They don't recall if they fed him two nights ago. I asked both if they felt their son was in appropriate care right now and they told me no..."

On Wednesday evening, Feb. 22, detectives secured felony arrest warrants for the child's parents and arrested the pair.  

Nass III is facing one count of child abuse and one count of being a habitual offender, while Kanouse is facing one count of child abuse.  

Kanouse could face a up to ten years in prison.