Detectives sought other families connected to Sunrise to Sunset Childcare after charging its operator in the severe injury of an 8-month-old.
SMITHFIELD, N.C. — Police investigating the critical injury of an 8-month-old boy at a Smithfield home daycare broadened their inquiry to families who had previously used the business, saying the unlicensed operation had cared for multiple children over more than a year.
The outreach followed the arrest of Brooke Ashley Reiner, 26, who operated Sunrise to Sunset Childcare from a home on Cloverdale Drive. Reiner is accused of intentionally inflicting severe injuries on the infant on July 6 and faces two counts of intentional child abuse inflicting serious bodily injury. She also faces one count of providing child care while unlicensed resulting in serious injury. Authorities have not announced additional alleged victims, and the request for information does not itself establish that any other child was harmed.
Smithfield police said detectives wanted to identify families who had used the daycare because they believed it had been operating for more than a year and regularly cared for several children. That step widened what began as an investigation into one medical emergency into a review of the child-care operation and its history. Public reporting has not established how many families ultimately contacted police, what information they provided or whether investigators found evidence supporting new criminal allegations.
The event that triggered the inquiry occurred July 6, when the 8-month-old was in Reiner’s care. Police allege she threw the baby onto a changing table, causing his head to strike the surface, and also hit him multiple times in the face, head and abdomen. Court records describe extensive injuries, including bruising and severe brain trauma. Those claims are allegations in an active criminal case and have not been established by a conviction.
The infant’s medical condition quickly made the incident a police matter. WakeMed personnel contacted Smithfield investigators after doctors determined that the child had severe head trauma that appeared nonaccidental, according to a probable cause affidavit. The baby suffered a brain bleed and a midline shift and was described in court records as having a disconnection or separation involving the brain’s hemispheres. He required emergency surgery and intensive care. An affidavit later cited doctors as saying his chances of survival were slim at that time.
Before investigators accused her of intentionally injuring the child, Reiner described the episode as a sudden seizure-like emergency. According to the affidavit, she said the boy had awakened from a nap and was on the changing table for a diaper change when his eyes rolled back. She said his body stiffened and his arms drew toward his chest. Reiner told investigators she took hold of his shoulders and shook him while trying to get his attention. Paramedics responded and transported the baby to the hospital.
Police ultimately alleged that the child’s injuries resulted from deliberate physical force rather than an unexplained medical event. Public reports do not provide the full evidentiary path from the hospital’s initial concern to that conclusion. They do not say whether investigators recovered video footage, whether anyone witnessed the alleged acts or whether Reiner made other statements about the injuries. Those unanswered questions are likely to be addressed, if relevant and admissible, as the criminal case proceeds.
The daycare itself had been promoted publicly before the investigation. A November 2024 social media post attributed to Reiner said she started Sunrise to Sunset Childcare so she could stay at home as a single mother while helping other parents find affordable care. She said she was working on obtaining a child-care license and hoped to have one within several months. Police said the business was still unlicensed when they investigated the infant’s injuries in July 2026.
Exactly what happened with that intended licensing effort has not been made clear in the public reporting. There is no verified account among the sources reviewed showing that Reiner later obtained a license, and law enforcement explicitly characterized the daycare as unlicensed. The available reports also do not establish whether regulators had received an application, whether any state agency had inspected the home or whether officials had been aware of the operation before police opened the criminal investigation.
Reiner was arrested July 7. A Johnston County magistrate set her bond at $5 million secured, an unusually high amount that kept her jailed as the case began moving through court. Reporting later in July said a grand jury had indicted her. The available public sources do not show that she has been convicted of any offense or establish that she has entered a plea. The presumption of innocence remains in place unless and until the state proves the charges in court.
Public records continue to provide only a partial picture of the case. A Johnston County inmate search available in late August still listed Reiner, with a July 7 booking date and an intentional child-abuse charge. Earlier reporting identified Aug. 5 as her next scheduled court date, but no reliable source reviewed for this article supplied a confirmed account of that hearing or a later court schedule. The jail listing establishes continued detention, not what procedural steps have occurred in the prosecution.
The same caution applies to the infant’s medical status. Initial reporting described him as hospitalized in serious condition after emergency brain surgery. Later court-document reporting said he remained in intensive care with a slim chance of survival. No reliable subsequent update located during this review establishes his condition as of Aug. 27. It would therefore be inaccurate to assume either recovery or death from the absence of newer public information.
Police have not publicly identified the infant in the reliable sources reviewed, and his name is being withheld. Authorities also have not released a public statement from his family. The limited information about him centers on the injuries documented during the July hospitalization and the criminal allegations that followed. That approach also avoids turning the child’s medical crisis into unnecessary graphic detail while the case remains unresolved.
The broader family outreach may become one of the most consequential parts of the investigation even if it produces no additional charges. It could help detectives establish how the daycare operated, how long Reiner had regularly cared for children, what parents understood about its licensing status and whether anyone had information relevant to the July 6 incident. At present, however, authorities have not publicly reported findings from those contacts, and it would be speculative to assume what families told investigators.
The criminal case therefore remains focused on a set of established procedural facts and disputed allegations: an infant suffered catastrophic injuries while in Reiner’s care; doctors alerted police to suspected nonaccidental trauma; investigators accused Reiner of intentionally using force; police determined the home daycare was unlicensed; and Reiner was arrested and indicted. What prosecutors can ultimately prove, what additional evidence exists and what happened to the child after the initial hospitalization remain unresolved in the public record.
As of Aug. 27, Reiner remained listed in the Johnston County jail, while Smithfield police had not publicly announced additional victims or a later medical update on the infant. The investigation into both the July 6 injuries and the operation of Sunrise to Sunset Childcare has left authorities with a wider circle of potential witnesses but several major questions still awaiting answers in court or through future official disclosures.
Author note: Last updated August 27, 2026.