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18th May 2023
03:17pm BST
A boy found wandering the streets looking for food, begged police not to take him home.
Authorities said the 10-year-old was "starving to death" and in a state of extreme malnutrition when he was found in Spalding County, Georgia on Friday.
His parents, Tyler Schindley, 46, and his wife Krista, 47, have been charged with attempted murder for starving the boy and committing child cruelty in the third degree by allowing their four other children to "see and/or hear" physical abuse against the boy on multiple occasions from 2020 to 2023, MailOnline reports. They are also accused of allowing a "dental injury and disfiguration" the boy suffered to go unattended.
Court documents accuse the couple of causing the boy "excessive physical or mental pain" before neighbours found him roaming the streets barefoot in Griffin.
WXIA reports that, during a press conference Tuesday, District Attorney Marie Broder said: "This child was, simply put, being starved to death, and it is tragic."
She added: "I truly believe that if he had not gotten out of that home, this would be a very different case. This case is just disturbing. It's heartbreaking."
Broader continued: "As a mother, I can't comprehend it. As a human being, it breaks your heart."
She said pictures taken of the child are "absolutely horrible" and would shake people "to the core".
According to reports, the boy was locked in his room and left alone in the house for "extended periods" with no lights, food, clothing, or adult supervision.
The Schindleys were arrested shortly after neighbours found their son wandering hungry and confused through the streets before he begged police officers to "please not make him go back."
The boy was said to weigh just 36 pounds (16kgs) - the weight of an average four-year-old.
The average weight of a 10-year-old boy is 68 pounds (31kgs).
All of the five children in the house were homeschooled, but officials said it appeared only the boy was starved.
His siblings are now in the custody of child serves in Georgia.
The boy was initially taken to hospital and treated for malnutrition and a low hear rate.
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