CLEBURNE -- More people are coming forward to defend a Cleburne mother charged with serious bodily injury to a child in relation to her son's dire condition.
Danita Tutt, 40, was arrested one week ago.
An arrest warrant and affidavits pertaining to a Child Protective Services case allege that Tutt was responsible for her 13-year-old son's deteriorating health last spring, both by refusing him food and water, and exaggerating his symptoms of a variety of conditions to procure unnecessary medical treatment.
But friends and family are rallying around the mother, including a woman who says she knows all too well about being scrutinized by the courts.
Angel Cook and her husband were accused of causing the death of their adopted child a few years ago.
They were ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, and she strongly believes the case against Tutt is being unjustly brought.
"Basically, they rubber-stamped my case and put Danita Cook's name on it," she says.
Cook points to a Do Not Resuscitate Order, and state certification of terminal illness, as signed documents by doctors and nurses indicating that young Colby was, in fact, terminal.
"A colonoscopy? You can't make a doctor do that. You can't fake his chromosome disorder. You can't fake an esophagus problem," says Cook.
The mother says she has reviewed Colby's medical records, and notes that some of the same doctors and nurses that thought Colby should receive hospice because he was terminal suddenly stated otherwise once CPS and Fort Worth police started investigating a complaint by the hospice provider.
"It looks like there wasn't much of an investigation by any of them," she says.
She has started a Facebook group to support the family, with comments coming in from as far away as England and Japan.
But the court affidavits and arrest warrant do suggest a detailed investigation, one in which authorities found reason to at least question Tutt's actions.
The documents indicate Colby's health and appetite improved when his mother was forced to stay away for more than 24 hours. They also suggest she was lying about his health ailments, which ended up requiring unnecessary procedures.
In one affidavit, his main nurse from Angel Unaware Hospice writes, "I am concerned that Colby's symptoms of pain and food intolerance and activity intolerance are fabricated by his mom."
When authorities removed Colby and his brother from their mother's care in May, Colby only weighed about 50 pounds.
An arrest warrant indicates he is now doing better, and states he "...has gained approximately 10 pounds" since being removed from his parent's care.
Tutt's defense attorney blasted the warrant earlier this week, saying if anything, the slight improvement proves the boy is still gravely ill and that authorities were only called when the Tutt's started second guessing the care Colby was receiving through Angel Unaware.
The hospice's founder, Connie Koehler, declined comment on Friday before abruptly hanging up the phone.
In an affidavit, she stated that Danita would ask about medicine that they could give to Colby to "'make him go to sleep'' and not ''wake up.''
Tiffany Hunsaker, a hospice nurse who says she started talking with the Tutts about Colby's medical care last spring, thinks there are a lot of unanswered questions.
"I don't know how it could get this far," she says. "I've been doing this for 12 years and never heard of a case like this."
Hunsaker says she has also reviewed Colby's medical records through his family, and that it's obvious he was ill.
"This family has gone through a lot," she said. "I don't think they are to blame here."
The felony case against Danita Tutt will play out in Tarrant County, while the CPS case remains in Johnson County.
The children are in the custody of their maternal grandparents for the time being.
Tutt's husband has not been charged.