A 2-year-old Santa Fe boy whom police believe was tightly bound with an unknown ligature late last month remained in stable condition Monday at an Albuquerque hospital.

Doctors continue to monitor the boy's progress in an intensive care unit but may have to amputate his legs, said Sgt. Louis Carlos, a Santa Fe Police Department spokesman.

"It's heartbreaking to see this," said Carlos, who saw the boy's injuries after he was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. "He was in pain. He couldn't stop screaming."

The boy's parents took him to the hospital Jan. 28 with what a District Court search warrant affidavit described as "suspicious injuries."

"The injuries were raised red welts approximately 4 cm. in width with distinctive straight edges and appeared to wrap around the back of both legs above the back of the bend in the leg," says the affidavit, filed late last week. "There are also several similar welts on the shins and two welts across both kneecaps on the front of both legs. (An officer) also saw a red raised welt that wraps around the victim's left ankle similar to a ligature mark."

The boy's mother said she didn't see how her son sustained the injuries, but told police her boyfriend — the boy's father — reported finding the boy with a 4-foot-tall chest of drawers on top of him the morning they took him to the hospital, the affidavit says. She said she didn't hear the chest fall or hear the boy scream during the night.

The boyfriend told police he thought his son tried to climb on top of the chest. He said he found him lying on his back on his bed, with the chest on top of him and his legs pinned over a small rail on the side of the bed, the affidavit says.

The boy was transferred to University Hospital the next day, where a child-abuse response team cast doubt on the boyfriend's story, the affidavit states. A doctor told police the boy's injuries were not consistent with a chest of drawers falling on him, and that the injuries "are more consistent with being restrained with a belt, strap or anything used to bind," the affidavit says.

The doctor told the officer that "she believes (the boy) is a victim of child abuse or extreme neglect," the document states.

Doctors performed surgery to remove permanently damaged tissue from the boy's calf muscles and to relieve pressure and swelling.

Crime scene technicians later surveyed the family's apartment in the 6300 block of Entrada de Milagro and found the bed rail didn't match the pattern of the injuries on the boy's legs, according to the affidavit.

Carlos said detectives continue to investigate the case. The boy's parents have not been arrested or charged in connection with the alleged abuse, he said.