Parents from central Pennsylvania are being charged with homicide in the starvation death of their autistic 9-year-old son, according to Reuters.
The body of the boy was found decomposing when police were called to their Harrisburg home two months ago, Reuters reported.
According to documents, Kimberly and Jarrod Tutko Sr. kept Jarrod Tutko Jr., who weighed 17 pounds, in a bare room smeared with a thick layer of feces, according to Reuters. The child suffered from several painful conditions, according to Reuters.
The bedroom door was locked from the outside and he slept on the bare floor, police said, Reuters reported.
An autopsy concluded that the child, who had a genetic disorder with autism-like symptoms, weighed less than 17 pounds and died of malnutrition and neglect, the AP reported. A 10-year-old girl who was close to death was also found in the home and needed urgent medical attention, police said.
"The inside door knob and light switch were both covered in smeared feces," wrote Harrisburg Detective Rodney Shoeman, according to the AP. "The light in the room was found to be inoperable. Located in the middle of the floor was a feces-covered stuffed rabbit and blanket. Flies swarmed throughout the room."
"Obviously the malnutrition was horrific," Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico said Tuesday, according to the AP. "The child had significant dental issues that a dentist told us would have been incredibly painful. That's something that indicates he had no dental care whatsoever."
Jarrod Jr. spent his early years moving between foster care and his parent's custody, but he was returned to them in 2006, after they had moved to Harrisburg, Shoeman wrote, the AP reported. The family was reported to Pennsylvania's ChildLine system last year and authorities investigated.
Marsico, who was at the scene when the boy's decomposing body was found in a second-floor bathroom on Aug. 1, called it one of the most horrible crime scenes he has observed, the AP reported. He said the bolted-down television in his third-floor bedroom was tuned to the Disney channel.
"I can only imagine what it was like on a hot summer day in that room," Marsico said Tuesday, according to the AP. "It was terrible. And this was a kid with special needs that needed extra care."
