ABUSE

Wisconsin Teen Starved by Parents

Police find her weighing 70 pounds.

A 70-pound teenage Wisconsin girl told police that her father and stepmother had locked her in the basement for more than five years, starving her and forcing her to eat her own feces. Law enforcement picked her up in the Madison area last week. The parents were arrested Friday on suspicion of child abuse and neglect. The 15-year-old girl, who was found barefoot and in her pajamas, said in a police affidavit that she had been made to live in the basement since 2006, and fled the house after her stepmother allegedly threatened to throw her down the stairs. Medical experts told police that the girl’s development had likely been arrested by severe malnutrition.