From Madison.com: A Madison man and his wife have been arrested for allegedly torturing and starving the man's 15-year-old daughter, who told authorities she was forced to live in the basement of their home on the city's Southeast Side for years.
The girl, who weighs about 70 pounds, told authorities she was forced to drink her urine and eat her feces, according to a police affidavit. She said she was forced to live in the basement of the home at 4609 Treichel St. since about 2006, eating only what she could pick off the floor, find in the laundry or take out of the garbage, and that she has been physically injured by both her father and stepmother.
Chad G. Chritton, 40, and Melinda J. Drabek-Chritton, 42, were being held Tuesday in Dane County Jail. Bail for each was set at $20,000.
Joshua P. Drabek, 18, the girl's stepbrother, also was arrested on an alleged probation violation.
A doctor specializing in child abuse who examined the girl Friday said she suffered from "serial torture with prolonged exposure to definite starvation," Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.
Dr. Barbara Knox of American Family Children's Hospital told police the malnutrition the girl suffered "poses a significant risk of death" and that chronic starvation had caused her puberty to be arrested, the affidavit states. Knox also said that because of the starvation and severe malnutrition, the girl would be at high risk for other disorders and complications that can lead to death.
DeSpain said a passerby notified McFarland police after seeing the girl walking barefoot and wearing only pajamas a few blocks from her home on Feb. 6. Paramedics were called to evaluate the girl, who was taken to a Madison hospital.
According to the affidavit, the girl told authorities she fled the residence because she was afraid "Melinda was going to throw me down the stairs." She said she had been let out of the basement to "clean some papers" for Drabek-Chritton, who became angry because she wasn't doing it fast enough and threatened to throw her down the stairs.
In a separate matter, Drabek, 18, had been sentenced Nov. 15 by Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese to three years of probation for having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl in Deerfield.
Drabek was required to wear a state-issued electronic monitoring bracelet as a condition of his probation. Two probation agents conducted a residence assessment on Dec. 13, DOC spokeswoman Linda Eggert said. An agent visited the house to conduct a standard visit on Jan. 10 and Jan. 19.
Residence assessments typically include a thorough on-site inspection of the residence and neighborhood, including a visual inspection of the offender's sleeping quarters, Eggert said.
It's unclear why evidence of abuse wasn't detected by the agents. Further details of the house assessment and subsequent visits are not available as the DOC conducts investigates whether Drabek violated his probation, Eggert said.
The family also had several contacts with county social workers going back to May 1997. The first case was substantiated, but six other reports of abuse or neglect were either deemed unsubstantiated or did not go through a formal assessment.
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WHY IS THE STATE OF wISCONSIN NOT KEEPING THE HOMESCOOL CHILDREN SAFE. The IFB lobbiest like Marvin Munyon are keeoping the parents religous rights safe...what about the children...some are not safe...What can be done to hold these parents accountable+
ReplyDeleteWell, it's a nice spin to blame the State of Wisconsin for what happened.
DeleteBut first, if you are going to place blame on someone not protecting home schooled kids, you start at the local level- school district and county social services. The State of Wisconsin really has role in keeping kids safe in individual cases of abuse.
And Home Schooling is a parental right, but not everyone can be a home school teacher. As a teacher, I do support most cases of home schooling, but not every time. But I recognize that public schools don't do everything good and that public schools have failed many students and that parents have to intervene.
As far as unsafe parents who keep their children home to hide abuse, that's when family and neighbors have to help out and call in suspected abuse and hold the parents accountable. I just cannot believe that not a single family member or neighbor saw anything nor did the school fall through and see if the kid was properly being home schooled.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteSeveral of the complaints made to Child Protective Services were called in by neighbors, including one where the girl was observed being forced to push cinderblocks from one side of the yard to the other ("for no apparent reason"). This complaint and others went nowhere. I'd say that's a big, decisive FAIL on the part of local and state government.
Oh.. and did I forget to mention the exhaustive "background check" that was done on the woman in 2004 when applying for the Habitat for Humanity home that would become the poor child's torture chamber? Or the fact that she HAD been in public school at one time but the district failed to follow up when she was withdrawn? Or that law enforcement knew that she'd been sexually assaulted in 2007 (at only TEN YEARS OLD) but were quick to give up when the little girl wouldn't corroborate the story?
ReplyDeleteMadison is one eff'd up city that will NEVER see my tourist/tax dollars.
Let's hope these local and state agencies learn from these very serious mistakes.
TDR