Video: Investigators: Starving girl left in home after call to police

Larger screen

There are more disturbing facts about the teenager who nearly starved to death in Carnation. KING 5 Investigator Susannah Frame has information that the girl was left in the home even after police and a CPS worker visited the home.

The case of the starving girl struck quite a nerve in our community. Earlier this month, a father and stepmother were arrested, charged with deliberately starving their daughter as punishment.

Now we've found the child was left in the home even after police and a Child Protective Services worker responded to the home and found a girl who looked malnourished and appeared half her age.

Police and social workers came to the home this summer after a neighbor called to say she'd heard a child screaming and banging on doors and windows in the middle of the night.

New Department of Social and Health Services documents obtained by KING 5 show that police left the child in the home after responding to that call. A sheriff's deputy wrote that the 14-year-old looked so malnourished that she appeared to be age 7 or 8, and weighed just 48 pounds.

On top of that, DSHS records say the girl told the deputy, "I don't want to live here anymore." The report says she also told him she was only allowed a small amount of water a day.

Sheriff's department spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart on Friday said the deputy made a judgement call to leave the girl there based on the information he had at the time. Urquhart says the deputy did a good job at the scene and wasn't given enough information to warrant removing the girl from the home.

We also learned from the state records that a social worker came to the home the day after police came in.

The worker wrote that the girl looked "extremely thin and malnourished," "is restricted from drinking water" and that the stepmother hits her with "her hand, a belt, and a clog-like shoe".

Despite all that, the social worker made the judgment call to not pursue removing the child at that time.

Instead of taking her out, the worker developed a safety plan with the parents telling them they must make a doctor's appointment and stop physically disciplining her while she's at this current weight.

So how did the girl finally get taken out of the home?

The next day the parents made good on their promise to CPS and took the girl to the doctor. According to the documents, medical professionals were horrified saying the girl was intentionally starved and despondent. She apparently told the doctor she'd rather have a lethal injection than go back home.

They rushed her to the hospital and made yet another call to CPS that finally led to police taking her into protective custody from Children's Hospital in Seattle.

The parents have both pleaded not guilty to two counts each of criminal mistreatment.

The DSHS records say there was a controversy over whether the girl should have been taken from the home when law enforcement officials and Child Protective Services were called with similar complaints from the daughter in 2005, when she was 11.

The records indicate the girl ran away from her home schooling center on March 4, 2005 because she was "afraid to go home." She told teachers she was locked in her room every day until 1:00 while her mother slept, and only got a meal at 8 p.m. when her father came home. She also reported her mother "hits me a lot."

The teacher called CPS and the King County Sheriff’s department responded as well.

CPS closed the case after repeated, failed attempts at getting a hold of the father. In addition, the daughter told the caseworker her step-mother had quit locking her up and that they were getting along better.

That was the last time officials heard of any problems, until the call from the neighbor in August of this year.

The girl is currently in foster care. Her younger brother, who looked healthy and well-fed, was eventually taken out of the home as well and placed with different foster parents.