[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
The parents of an emaciated 4-year-old boy whose medical charts said he gained less than a pound over two-and-a-half years (!) are now in jail and accused of one of the most disturbing acts of child abuse we’ve ever read.
Back on June 17, a 34-year-old woman named Patricia Siercks (above left) and a 32-year-old man named Joshua Gusman (above right) brought their son to Golden Valley Memorial Hospital in the city of Clinton, Missouri.
There, doctors determined the horribly emaciated boy weighed just 23 pounds, according to a police report cited by multiple news outlets.
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But while things started badly, they turned so much worse over a shocking several week period…
An Initial Discovery
Immediately, doctors at the Clinton hospital asked about the boy’s shocking condition. Siercks told them he was a “picky eater,” per the arrest affidavit. But hospital personnel thought something else was going on. They allegedly observed injuries to the boy’s face, as well as bruising on his back. So, they called the police to report a case of possible child abuse.
When officers arrived, they too noted bruises on the boy’s back, as well as marks on both of his temples, and a scratch under his left eye. Hospital employees then produced the boy’s medical chart, which found that as a two-year-old back in December of 2022, he weighed 22.26 pounds. But during that June examination — so, two-and-a-half years later — the child weighed only 23.12 pounds.
WHAT THE F**K!!!
FYI, growth charts recommend a kid his age should weigh about 44 pounds. So, he was nearly half of that healthy weight. And not only that, but he hadn’t even put on a full pound of weight in more than two years. How is that possible?!?!
Well… when officers asked Siercks about that, she claimed that she spends $400 on food but the boy is “picky” about what he eats. Per the arrest report, she also claimed she’d given him PediaSure for a few months at the end of 2024 to get his weight up, but that she stopped doing so early this year because “it was all he wanted to have.”
As for the marks on her son, Siercks allegedly admitted that she got mad at him a few weeks earlier after the boy “threw a fit.” So, she “slapped and punched [him] in the face,” the report noted. Awful…
Two Weeks Go By…
But somehow, this story gets so much worse. The boy was NOT taken away by social services at that time, nor were Siercks or Gusman arrested. Instead, two weeks later on June 30, cops in Kansas City were contacted by social workers at that city’s Children’s Mercy Hospital after the boy was admitted because of low weight and ongoing heart rhythm issues that emergency room doctors said were caused by malnutrition.
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At that time, the boy was also diagnosed with Refeeding Syndrome. That’s a potentially fatal disease where malnourished people resume feeding too quickly, risking their lives with a severe metabolic response to the sustenance.
In that second hospital visit, Kansas City doctors determined the boy was “within days of fatal organ failure.” Per KSHB News, they diagnosed the child with acute childhood torture, long-term starvation, imbalanced electrolytes due to dehydration, and stunted growth.
It was only after that when some action was thankfully taken…
An Arrest Is Made
Finally, both Siercks and Gusman were arrested after that second hospital visit. At first, Gusman denied there had been any child abuse. Instead, he merely reiterated what Siercks had told cops in Clinton — that the kid wouldn’t gain weight because he was a picky eater. But detectives leaned a little harder on him during an ensuing interrogation, and according to KCTV News, the man ultimately cracked.
Specifically, Gusman told cops he’d allegedly seen the boy “placed into a dog crate while the family ate dinner and the victim was not provided any food,” the arrest affidavit noted. And not only that, but he also claimed Siercks had been abusing the boy for TWO YEARS! Well, that would seem to explain the marks and bruises…
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Cops in Kansas City quickly charged Siercks with two counts of child abuse. As for Gusman, he’s facing several charges including abuse of a child leading to serious emotional or physical injury, and endangering the welfare of a child.
KCTV notes that the duo could each face more than two decades behind bars if convicted. For now, they’ve both been transferred back to Henry County Jail in Clinton, where they are being held without bond.
As for our reactions to this shocking story… we honestly don’t even know what to say after writing all that. A dog crate? Severe malnourishment? It’s beyond heartbreaking.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Henry County Sheriff’s Office]
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