A couple from Arkansas has been accused of battery following the suspected abuse of a 7-year-old child who arrived at Arkansas Children’s Hospital this week appearing “pale, limp, and severely underweight, weighing just 28 pounds.”
Chris Freeman, age 39, and Katelyn Freeman, age 27, are also facing charges related to endangering a minor’s welfare as the investigation progresses, with a possibility of additional charges, as stated by the Russellville Police Department to KARK.
The Freemans brought the child to Dardanelle Regional Medical Center early on Tuesday morning, and he was then transferred to the children’s hospital. Hospital representatives informed investigators that the boy had endured severe malnutrition for years and was classified as a “near fatality.”
Investigators found the Freemans’ home “unfit for children,” with a closet where the boy was kept for extended periods — tied up with rope. They found human waste on the closet floor.
Inside the home, they found “plenty of food and several thousand dollars in cash.”
The Freemans admitted they kept the boy in the closet and said they didn’t take him to a doctor “for fear of repercussions and embarrassment.”
Investigators called the abuse “physical and mental torture.”
Online jail records do not list bond information.
