Aurora’s Meyer arrested for child abuse, could face life in prison

Warrant also issued for Meyer’s missing boyfriend Honorof
An Aurora woman is in custody at the Lawrence County Jail after being charged with felony child abuse. Bethany Meyer, 29, was booked into the jail on Tuesday, Jan. 5.
Injuries allegedly caused by blunt force and “a tooth incision.”
According to the probable cause statement in the case, Meyer took the child, identified as a boy under the age of 5, into Cox Hospital in Springfield around Oct. 16, 2020. The boy was reported to be bleeding and had over 30 bruises on his body ranging from his head to his feet. The probable cause statement also cited medical paperwork which stated the bruises were consistent with some type of blunt force; additionally he had a laceration which was “consistent with a tooth incision or some other kind of traumatic laceration.”
 The boy was taken into custody.
The investigating officer reported that Meyer and her boyfriend, Zachary Honorof, 33, were the two adults who took care of the boy. According to the probable cause statement, Meyer stated in a post-Miranda interview that she worked and left the child in Honorof’s care as he didn’t have a job. She also said she was biting the boy to teach him to stop biting, “but never with her teeth and never leaving a bruise.”
Meyer also said that Honorof was the one who bit the boy on the arm and left a bruise. She told the investigating officer that on Oct. 14, Honorof called her while she was at work and said the boy would not stop bleeding. She went home and tried to stop the bleeding with Honorof, but couldn’t.
When the investigating officer asked Meyer about all the bruises on the boy’s body, she said she didn’t know how they got there; she also said she was so busy with working and going to school that she “turned off her mom brain and did not pay as much attention as she should have.” She also said leaving the boy with Honorof was cheaper than sending him to daycare.
Meyer said that after the boy was taken into custody, Honorof left the house, and they broke up. She said she didn’t know where he was. The investigating officer said he was also unable to locate Honorof. As of press time, Honorof was not in custody. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Charges filed:
Meyer faces one count of abuse of a child and one count of abuse or neglect of a child. The first charge is a Class A felony, and according to the criminal complaint, Meyer would be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of probation or parole for 30 years. The second charge is a Class B felony, and if convicted, Meyer would have to serve at least five years in prison.
Charges of first-degree sodomy and abuse of a child have been filed against Honorof. According to the criminal complaint, both charges are Class A felonies; if convicted of the first charge, he would be sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole after 30 years; if convicted of the second charge, he would be required to serve at least 15 years.