Police arrested the wife of a man who is accused of brutally beating his 11-year-old daughter with a belt and then denying her medical care to hide the abuse.

The Rathdrum Police Department announced Wednesday that Melanie Dyk was arrested on a warrant and faces charges of injury to a child and aiding and abetting aggravated battery, both felonies, as well as failure to report child abuse, a misdemeanor. 

The arrest resulted from a "thorough follow-up investigation" conducted by Rathdrum police after the July arrest of Aaron Dyk, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of injury to a child and a single count of aggravated battery, all felonies. 

"Cases involving harm to children have a lasting impact on everyone involved in the investigation and this one is no different," Rathdrum Police Chief Dan Haley said in a news release. "I am proud of how our department handled this case."  

The charges stem from July 10, when first responders arrived at a medical assist on Highway 41 after Aaron Dyk reported that his daughter was having a seizure in his car. The 11-year-old girl was unresponsive when medical personnel reached the scene and transported her to Kootenai Health.  

At the hospital, medical staff reported that the girl had suffered “severe bruising to her buttocks, lower back, legs and arms,” according to court records, as well as other injuries from “considerable trauma.”  

The injuries caused the girl to go into kidney failure, according to court records, and she entered the pediatric intensive care unit at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane with “life-threatening injuries that had the potential to cause permanent brain damage, kidney failure and death.” 

Days later, Rathdrum police said the girl’s condition was stable. 

When interviewed by police, Dyk allegedly admitted to beating his daughter with a leather belt off and on for about four hours on July 5. 

Melanie Dyk, who is the child’s stepmother, told police her husband had “snapped” when he beat the child. She said she noticed the girl’s condition worsening in the days after the lashing and observed significant bruising on her body but didn’t report what had happened because Dyk is the family’s sole provider. 

By July 8, Melanie Dyk said she demanded that her husband take the child to the hospital, but he refused because he would be arrested, according to court records.   

Idaho’s mandatory reporting requirements don’t just apply to people in certain professions. Under the law, any “physician, resident on a hospital staff, intern, nurse, coroner, schoolteacher, day care personnel, social worker or other person” with reason to believe a child under the age of 18 has been abused, neglected or abandoned is obligated to make a report.   

Dyk also allegedly admitted to striking his daughter with a belt “15 to 20 times” around Father’s Day, relenting only when she told him where she had put an item he claimed she took from a sibling, according to court records. 

He told police he had dragged his daughter around by her ear and hit her across the head with the belt when she tried to cover her body with her hands, according to court records. 

Other children in the household said Aaron Dyk sometimes spanked them as punishment but that he beat the 11-year-old girl much more frequently. Melanie Dyk allegedly brought the other children outside during the July 5 beating so they would not witness it.  

An administrator from the girl’s school contacted the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare after news of Dyk’s arrest broke, according to court records. 

The administrator said the girl’s family pulled her from school halfway rough the year but did not remove their other children from school. Idaho parents can choose to withdraw their children from school at any time. 

To report suspected child abuse, neglect or abandonment, call 855-552-KIDS (5437). Community members can also call 211 or local law enforcement.