A boy from Arizona died in March because of abuse and starvation. According to the autopsy report, the 6-year-old boy only weighed 18 pounds at the time of his death, the Arizona Daily Sun reported.
Starvation and child neglect
The parents of Deshaun Martinez, 26-year-old Elizabeth Archibeque, and 23-year-old Anthony Martinez and his grandmother 50-year-old Ann Marie Martinez were all arrested in March and were charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and child abuse.
The child's father was also charged with aggravated assault. All three of them pleaded that they are innocent. Lawrence Czarnecki, a medical examiner, wrote that Deshaun's skin was stretched over his bones and that the child had almost no body fat, which made him look like a skeleton.
The child's eyes were surrounded by dark circles and were sunken and his hair was brittle. The child's autopsy report showed that Deshaun had abrasions and bruises all over his body and it was revealed that when he was only 2 weeks old, he was hospitalized because he had difficulty in gaining weight, he also had sepsis and urinary tract infection.
Deshaun had difficulty eating. Both of these parents were counseled on how to keep his weight up when he was discharged and the report said that he was 34 pounds by age 4, but his weight had dropped to 27 at age 5.
On March 2, the police were called to the Martinez's house after the grandmother called 911 because Deshaun was unresponsive. The firefighters in the scene pronounced the child dead after they could not revive him.
The police report read that the physical appearance of the boy did not compliment his age and he appeared malnourished. Both of the parents of Deshaun admitted that they kept him and his older brother inside a closet in a bedroom.
The parents deliberately withheld food and gave Deshaun and his 7-year-old brother almost little to no food. The parents defended their actions and said that they only did it as a punishment because the boys would sneak in the kitchen in the middle of the night and steal food.
Severe punishment
According to the authorities, Deshaun and his brother were kept in the closet from 8 p.m till 12 p.m the next day. FOX 10 reported that the boys are not enrolled in any public school in the area. The grandmother of the children, Ann Marie Martinez, admitted that she knew what the parents were doing to the children but she claimed that she was innocent and did not do anything wrong.
During a jail video, she said that she is a law-abiding citizen that is trying to keep her grandchildren away from the street. According to an article written by the Associated Press.
The father, Anthony Martinez, became volatile after his arrest. He arrived at the Coconino County jail in a wheelchair with his hands cuffed behind his back and ankles shackled.
The authorities also said that he screamed at the police officers and shouted profanities during the booking process and he was violent. The rescued children, the 7-year-old boy, and his two younger siblings, ages four and two, were all put into the care of the Department of Child Safety.
