A 14-year-old girl weighing only 2.5 stone was rescued from a house where her overweight family members allegedly kept her captive and withheld food as punishment. Upon police arrival, the emaciated girl was found with highly visible collar bones, rib cage, hip, and cheek bones, appearing similar in size to a child aged six to eight.
The girl’s biological father, Walter Goodman, 47, claimed that she disliked eating and had not been taken to doctors due to his concerns about one of them. Goodman stated that the girl, who he said was autistic, had been under his sole custody since May 2020. Wisconsin authorities were alerted on August 21 when the girl fell ill and became comatose after days without food, leading to her diagnosis of hepatitis, multiple organ dysfunction, and severe malnutrition upon hospital admission.
Describing the girl as resembling a skeleton at 35lbs (2.5st), Outagamie County assistant district attorney Julie DuQuaine highlighted her severe malnutrition, contrasting with the average weight of a 14-year-old girl in the US. Documents disclosed that Walter had allegedly confined the girl to her room without basic amenities and used food deprivation as a form of discipline.
Following her rescue, the girl is now under the care of a different family and is showing signs of improvement in her recovery. Nurses noted that she had no issues with eating but recounted how Goodman would become upset if she consumed too much. All four adults involved have been charged with chronic child neglect and are currently held in jail on a $100,000 (£76,627) bail.
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