aaronleland
Diamond Member
- May 19, 2012
- 33,902
- 11,344
- 1,430
Harrisburg couple charged with homicide in son s death - abc27 WHTM
The complaint alleges their son, Jarrod Tutko Jr., weighed just 16.9 pounds at the time of his death and had fecal matter caked on his feet and fingers.
The complaint also alleges a history of neglect dating back to when the boy was 9 months old.
Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick ruled the child's death a homicide earlier this month after an autopsy showed he died of starvation, dehydration and malnutrition at the family's home at 2119 Green Street.
Authorities said another child in the home, a 10-year-old girl, was hours from death the night they were called to the home.
Mr. Tutko previously was charged with endangering the welfare of children, abuse of a corpse and concealing the death of a child.
Investigators said he told them he found his son dead in the boy's third-floor bedroom on July 29, but hadn't checked on him since the evening of July 27.
He said he didn't tell his wife their son had died until August 1, when she smelled the decomposing body, because he didn't know what to say to her.
Police said the boy's bedroom had no bed, no working light, a thick coating of feces smeared on the walls and floor and a pile of dried feces behind a television bolted to a stand, the only furniture in the room.