A Bowling Green toddler is breathing on his own but shows no brain activity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after being left in the care of Nam Nguyen, Bowling Green Police Department Detective Jamie Peerce said during court testimony Tuesday.

Nguyen, 58, of Bowling Green, is charged with first-degree assault-child abuse and is in the Warren County Regional Jail on a $1 million cash bond.

Warren District Court Judge Sam Potter found that there was enough probable cause to send the case against Nguyen to a grand jury.

Nguyen sat between two interpreters and her attorney, David Broderick, during Tuesday’s court hearing. Questions were asked and answers were given in short utterances to give interpreters time to explain to Nguyen the allegations being made against her.

Peerce testified that on April 30, BGPD Sgt. Shawn Helbig contacted Peerce about a 13-month-old child who had been flown from The Medical Center at Bowling Green to the children’s hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. After receiving a briefing from other officers, Peerce and Detective Jared Merriss went to Nguyen’s home at 205 Max Hampton in Bowling Green.

During an interview with Nguyen using a telephone translator, Nguyen said repeatedly that nothing happened to the boy the day he was in her care to cause his injuries.

Peerce then traveled with another detective and a social service worker to Nashville, where they met with Dr. Deborah Lowen, the injured boy’s attending physician.

“Dr. Lowen, during that initial briefing, expressed a lot of concern of a traumatic event that had occurred to (the child),” Peerce said.

Lowen told Peerce that the child has a “pattern of subdural hematoma with significant cerebral edema, and the retinal hemorrhages greatly raised the concern for abusive head trauma,” Peerce said.

She told detectives that the injuries occurred between two and six hours before the boy’s arrival at The Medical Center on April 30.

Detectives determined through interviews with the child’s family and Nguyen that the time the injuries occurred is consistent with the time Nguyen was caring for the child, Peerce said in court.

“At this point, we’re just beginning to get all of the facts together,” Broderick said after court. “We certainly think there’s a discrepancy in the times.”

The boy is not expected to regain brain activity.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron said. “We will meet with the child abuse team at Vanderbilt prior to this case going to the Warren County grand jury.”