2-Year-Old Girl Was Just 'Skin And Bones' After Being Starved To Death By Abusive Couple

A couple in Florida was arrested and charged with child neglect with great bodily harm on Wednesday after it was found that they had starved their two-year-old daughter to the point where she weighed as much as a three-month-old infant.

Regis Johnson, a 57-year-old man, and Arhonda Tillman, a 35-year-old woman, have been arrested and charged with child neglect resulting in great bodily harm. Sheriff Grady Judd expects that the charges will be upgraded to murder once the investigation is completed, according to the New York Post.

“This baby, this baby girl, this child that should’ve been thriving gained 1 ounce in two years and four months,” he said. “If you could imagine looking at such a heartbreaking sight, basically it was just bones and skin. It is unbelievable what we saw. You’d look at this child and you gasp at the horror you saw, and the pain this child went through.”

The child was supposed to be at least 32 pounds at that age, but when police officers found her, she was straddling the line at 9 and a half pounds. She also reportedly couldn’t walk, talk, or stand up when she was found, WTSP reported.

Her body was found inside an inflatable pool that was being used as a makeshift play pen by the family. There was food in the house when the couple was arrested, and both of them were apparently well-nourished in spite of their child’s appearance.

“Regis Johnson told us the baby ate a sandwich yesterday, and some chicken nuggets,” Judd said. “Well, that’s just a bald-faced lie. That child had zero food in her stomach.”

Later on, Frank Robinson, the 64-year-old neighbor of the couple, was also arrested for child neglect after it was found that he was knowledgeable of the treatment of the child while living in their house and did nothing to save the child.

“No matter who you are, across the state or nation, if you see a child that's being neglected or abused, you have not only an ethical and moral obligation but a legal obligation in Florida to report,” he said.