A preliminary hearing that's scheduled for Thursday in Shasta County Superior Court was confirmed today for a Cottonwood woman accused of attempted murder and other crimes in connection with the alleged beating of her boyfriend's 7-year-old son last year.

Her younger brother, who is a co-defendant in the case, will have his preliminary hearing with her.

Rachel Ann Limon, 27, is charged with attempted murder, torture, aggravated mayhem, child abuse and four related enhancements

Her brother, Gregory Limon, 22, is charged with child abuse, being an accessory and obstructing or delaying an officer.

They were arrested on Dec. 11 after Shasta County sheriff's deputies went to their Rhonda Road residence in response to an anonymous report that a severely abused child was there.

The badly injured child was found in a bedroom and it's believed that he would have died within 24 hours without medical treatment, a Shasta County sheriff's investigative report says.

Nicknamed "The Christmas Boy" by two Shasta County women who established a fund for him, the child suffered six broken ribs and a collapsed lung. He is now in foster care.

Sheriff's investigators have said that Rachel Limon admitted to having inflicted some of the boy's injuries, describing her actions as an act of revenge against the boy's biological mother.

Rachel Limon is facing several life sentences if convicted and her brother, who is out of jail on $50,000 bail, faces about six years, eight months in prison if convicted of the charges against him, Senior Deputy District Attorney Ben Hanna has said.