Two Michigan residents are facing decades in prison in one of the most disturbing child abuse cases imaginable.
As Fox 2 Detroit reported on Friday, Damien and Jessica O’Brien were charged with second-degree murder after the death of their morbidly obese 7-year-old.
The O’Briens also face torture and child abuse charges.
Last November, the O’Briens called 911 from their Flint Township home after their young son, Casper, stopped breathing. Per Fox 2 News Detroit, police discovered that he was completely bedridden, unable to speak, and living in absolute filth.
Casper later died at the hospital from a heart muscle disease compounded by morbid obesity. At the time of his passing, he weighed 255 pounds.
Police also discovered Casper’s 5-year-old sister in the house of horrors, and she was in rough shape as well.
David Leyton, the Genesee County prosecutor, described the girl’s condition as follows:
When the police arrived, the 5-year-old little girl was running around naked and, for lack of a better term, she was like a feral child.
The little girl was removed from the home by Children’s Protective Services. S
She is now in temporary foster care.
Fox 2 Detroit notes that while Damien and Jessica O’Brien were employed and had health insurance, neither Casper nor his younger sister received medical care.
Making this abuse even more evil is the fact that Casper was non-verbal and likely on the autism spectrum, meaning he absolutely needed specialized care.
Even more alarming, Leyton noted that the O’Briens were called the veterinarian when their dog fell ill the same morning Casper went into cardiac arrest.
“They knew enough to call the veterinarian the very morning the child went into cardiac arrest because the dog was sick,” he told Fox 2 Detroit. “But yet they don’t take the kids to the doctor.
“Doesn’t make any sense to me.”
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