Inset, left to right: Angel Holland and Aaron Stalling (Hamilton County Jail). Background: The home where Holland and Stalling resided with the victim (WXIX).
An Ohio woman, aged 32, and her 34-year-old boyfriend have been arrested over allegations of starving and mistreating three children, notably a 9-year-old boy who was hospitalized in a critical state, weighing just 30 pounds, with a dangerously low body temperature under 80 degrees.
Angel Holland, who has been the legal custodian of the 9-year-old since 2020, and Aaron Stalling were detained on Tuesday. They each face three charges of felonious assault and child endangerment, according to documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
Officers from the Elmwood Place Police Department responded around 5 p.m. on September 13 to a call about an unresponsive young boy at a residence in the 5600 block of Helen Street, as reported by The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Upon arrival, they located the boy and performed life-saving procedures, successfully resuscitating him before he was transported by ambulance to Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The 911 call was placed by Stalling, who sounds casual as he describes the situation to the emergency dispatcher.
“My child is not breathing, or he’s struggling to breathe,” he can be heard stating calmly in a 911 call recording acquired by Cincinnati Fox affiliate WXIX.
Asked if he was breathing or not, Stalling replies, “He’s breathing heavily — he seems to be really weak.”
Stalling then continues using a casual tone when responding to the dispatcher’s question about how long the boy had been in such a state.
“I’m not sure, possibly 5 minutes. I heard him breathing, somewhat labored, so I went to check on him. He seems unresponsive….it’s like he’s not breathing, I’m not certain.”
Doctors at Cincinnati Children’s told authorities that the 9-year-old was severely malnourished and had a life-threateningly low body temperature, Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC reported. The victim also reportedly showed visible signs of physical abuse.
In an interview with police, Holland said the boy had been complaining about having a stomachache about three days earlier and reportedly “admitted seeking no medical care for him after a recent fall.” She allegedly told investigators with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office that she “was preoccupied with another child the day of the incident.”
When authorities confronted Stalling about the victim’s dire condition, he immediately responded, “We feed him,” WXIX reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.
However, the other two children in the house were reportedly also found to be in bad shape.
“It was further determined that [the victim’s] siblings, 8 and 6, who also reside with Ms. Holland, were malnourished and required hospitalization for medical treatment,” the affidavit reportedly said.
Investigators executed a search warrant and recovered “bungee cords, a belt, and soiled towels observed inside a vehicle registered to Ms. Holland,” authorities said.
Elmwood Place Police Chief Randy Newsom, who has been on the job for 30 years and was at the scene when authorities responded to the home, described it as “the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I’ve ever seen.” He added, “I’ve never seen anything this bad in my life.”
“He’s terribly malnourished and looks like some, maybe some signs of abuse, but he will probably survive,” the chief told WXIX.
The boy’s grandfather told the station he’d seen a photo of his grandson, saying it was “literally the most horrific, disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life.”
Stalling and Holland are currently being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on $600,000 bond each, records show. Their case will be presented to a grand jury on Oct. 3.
