Child hospitalized with severe burns – Two arrested in connection

SCSO Contributor On Saturday, April 27, a three-year-old child who was under the sole care of 36-year-old Michael Duane Blitch, a Jasper resident, suffered significant and extensive burns to their scalp, neck, face and back. Blitch claimed that the child burned themself while playing with a removable shower head in their travel trailer, while they were unattended in the bathtub, and he was cooking dinner. However, medical examinations conducted by the Shands UF Hospital and Child Protection Team revealed that the burn pattern did not align with Blitch's account. Additionally, the investigation revealed there was no removable shower head in the bathtub, and the bathtub was incapable of hol