The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, July 7, 1994                 TAG: 9407070542
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                     LENGTH: Short :   35 lines

FATHER ADMITS ABUSING CHILD, 4 MONTHS OLD

Joanna Zeiler was certain her 4-month-old daughter was sick. When she burped the little girl, she spit up a brown liquid the mother thought was blood.

When Zeiler rushed her daughter to Portsmouth Naval Hospital, X-rays revealed more than 20 fractures in her rib cage. Many of the breaks were in different stages of healing; some had been broken several times.

On Wednesday, the child's father, Chad Zeiler, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of child abuse. He faces up to 10 years in the state prison when he is sentenced Aug. 23.

Zeiler told police when his daughter cried, he would pick her up and press his thumbs against her chest and squeeze until she couldn't breathe, said prosecutor Janee Joslin. Then he'd let her gasp for air and put a pacifier in her mouth.

``He figured if she couldn't get the next breath the child would stop crying,'' Joslin said. ``He did this about 12 times over a month-long period, always when his wife was in another room.''

The Zeilers lived in the 5000 block of Joslin St., near Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, where Chad Zeiler was stationed. ``He's not a violent person,'' Joanna Zeiler said at the time. ``He has been under a lot of stress because of work.''

KEYWORDS: CHILD ABUSE GUILTY PLEA by CNB