Teenager weighed less than 30 pounds

By Kathy Jefcoats

kjefcoats@news-daily.com

JONESBORO Clayton County police said a teenager with cerebral palsy found in a Jonesboro apartment weighed less than 30 pounds and gave off an odor that would "wake the dead."

Five adults have been indicted on multiple counts of contributing to the deprivation of children and first degree child cruelty involving the discovery of five children apparently living in squalor inside an apartment on Arrowhead Boulevard in April. The most severely malnourished and deprived child was a 15-year-old boy. Police said he weighed less than 30 pounds the average for a 5-year-old with cerebral palsy. A social worker who visited the home that day said the filthy child gave off an odor that would "wake the dead."

The boy's biological mother, Jutoi Mikia Hoskins, 33, her sister, Alicia Etoyal Doss, 35, their father, Larry Darnell Spears, 59, and Darryl W. Smith, 28, and Christine Turner were indicted in the case by a Clayton County grand jury Wednesday. Hoskins and Doss are being held in the Clayton County Jail.

According to court documents, Hoskins gave up custody of her son to her mother when he was 4 or 5 because caring for him was too much for her to handle. When her mother died in December 2011, Spears became the child's primary caregiver.

When the social worker arrived at the apartment in April, she told police Spears fled out the back of the home and has not been seen since, according to documents.

The child was taken to Southern Regional Hospital and then transferred to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta for treatment of bedsores that went to his bones, severe dehydration, low temperature, possible sepsis and severe malnutrition, among other conditions.

The boy's hair had to be shaved because it was matted and causing excessive pressure to his head and he suffered an untreated dislocated hip, said police.

Four other children also lived in the home, although their relationships to each other and the adults were unclear. Police said they were deprived because they were living among feces and spoiled food. The children were also in need of dental care.

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Teenager weighed less than 30 pounds