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Monday, October 13, 2008

“Our children need a mother and a father to thrive.”

posted by on October 13 at 10:12 AM

This little girl has a mother and a father—but she’s not thriving.

Calling it the “worst case” of abuse a detective had ever seen, the King County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Carnation couple last Friday on suspicion of criminal mistreatment after police found their 14-year-old daughter emaciated, dehydrated and suffering from severe malnutrition…. Police say the mother, 44, and father, 43, a software engineer, had starved the girl, who weighed only 48 pounds and was 4-foot-7. Police described her as resembling a 7- or 8-year-old….

According to police, the girl said her mother disciplined her by “restricting her water intake” to about a half of a small Dixie cup per day. The girl and her brother “were forced to sleep on the floor in the same room as their parents, and a heavy dresser was pushed in front of the door to keep her from sneaking out and getting water.”

Maybe this girl’s mother and father saw Ohio Republican state representative John Schlichter’s recent campaign flyer—the one in which he warned that “same sex couples [are] adopting our children”—and pushed that dresser in front of the door to prevent gay men from bursting into their bedroom in the middle of the night and adopting their kids. Or maybe they’re just insanely abusive assholes.

Doctors evaluated the girl’s teeth and found all of them to be eroded and chipped. She told investigators they hurt when she eats, and she recently broke a tooth while eating celery.

Doctors extracted six of her teeth under general anesthesia and capped the rest. They said the extreme dental erosion was “likely due to the shutdown of her salivary function due to extreme dehydration over an extended period of time,” according to police…. They also collected evidence that the family had health insurance and the girl’s little brother had seen a doctor in the past few years. The family’s two dogs were in good health and had recent trips to a veterinary clinic.

The kids are in foster care, mom and dad are in prison, and my jaw is in my lap.

RSS icon Comments

1

Two words: fucked. up.

Posted by STPA | October 13, 2008 10:36 AM
2

I'd ask 'who are these fucktards', but my grandmother was one of them. Beat the Hell out of my dad, abused him shamelessly until he finally ran away from her at age 16. [his Dad died when he was 8] My Dad was seriously fucked up as a result - but he didn't beat his kids.

People like this shouldn't breed.

Posted by Schweighsr | October 13, 2008 10:40 AM
3
The mother, who did not work outside the home, also directly monitored her daughter's showers and bathroom habits "to keep her from surreptitiously drinking water," police said. Showers were restricted to every two or three weeks.

The girl told police that her mother once duct-taped her hands behind her back and dunked her head in the toilet to discipline her.


Note: these people were not hillbillies. Daddy was a software engineer. This isn't abuse; it's carefully thought-out psychological torture. I hope the parents never see the light of day again.
Posted by Fnarf | October 13, 2008 10:41 AM
4

Dan-
The scary part is (or rather, one of the many scary parts), that she's not a "little girl"--she may be so malnourished that she looks like one, but she's actually a teenager.

Posted by Lesley | October 13, 2008 10:48 AM
5

Being abused doesn't mean they will abuse. My mother and father beat the shit out of each other and their kids. It's acceptable behavior in some cultures, but my parents knew it wasn't acceptable here. I can't believe that girl was in that house for so long. People let abuse happen. I'm glad the neighbor finally called. I wish someone had called when I was a kid. Maybe then my parents could see that they did some harm to us.


Posted by Sil | October 13, 2008 10:59 AM
6

Burn in hell, fuckheads! I hope your assets are siezed and liquidated to pay for the years of therapy both your kids will need while you're getting the shit beaten out of you in prison.

Posted by Jessica | October 13, 2008 11:12 AM
7

Why not report the good news about Connecticut and gay marriage? You report on this stuff instead?

Not much happened after MA, but now we have CA, Patterson in NY and CT in rapid succession. CA may have been the prairie fire.

Posted by Dan | October 13, 2008 11:48 AM
8

I don't get this kind of stuff at all - what happens to people's survival-of-the-species instinct? Protecting our young is pretty much a built-in brain function, isn't it?

Posted by Patti | October 13, 2008 11:57 AM
9

@8: MAny animals, when they feel something is wrong with one of their offspring, will reject the offspring and allow it to die. Just addressing the "survival of the species" and "protecting the young" instincts. Personally, I think these people should be be punished to the full extent of the law.

Posted by Nora | October 13, 2008 12:19 PM
10

The Yes on Prop 8 bigots need to get a copy of this.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | October 13, 2008 12:23 PM
11

Breeders are scary people and are the biggest threat to family values.

Posted by blackhook | October 13, 2008 12:27 PM
12

Every child deserves a logical fallacy.

Posted by Bob | October 13, 2008 12:57 PM
13

How can someone do that to their own child?? I mean what justification does their sadistic mind come up with?? That's just disgusting. Their own children.

Posted by anthony | October 13, 2008 1:53 PM
14

slog, 13 oct 08, seattle wa: 120+ responses bleating about meat-eating, 13 about what is possibly (sad that in these times i say 'possibly' and not 'definitely') the most fucked-up story i have ever read.

this is what the death penalty is for.

Posted by pretentious | October 13, 2008 9:59 PM
15

This calls for another donation to Children's Hospital.

Posted by Vince | October 14, 2008 7:16 AM
16

@13: it was HIS own child but not hers. I wonder how on earth he got custody.

Posted by Laural | October 14, 2008 11:20 AM
17

The saddest part is that if found guilty, they'd only be sentenced to UP TO 4 years in prison.

Posted by Sock Monkey | October 14, 2008 11:41 AM

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