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A couple from Michigan has been charged with murder, child abuse, and torture after their 7-year-old son, Casper O’Brien, died in 2025 weighing 116 kilograms.
According to prosecutors, he was severely neglected, bedridden, fed mostly snacks, and had received virtually no medical care despite serious health problems and nonverbal autism.
The boy died on November 4, 2025, after the couple called emergency services because he had stopped breathing.
An autopsy revealed that he had died of heart failure resulting from morbid obesity, and investigators described the home as filthy and chaotic. The couple is also accused of abusing and neglecting Casper’s 5-year-old sister: she was found in similar conditions but is now in a foster home and is doing well.
“This was a sad and horrific case in which two parents willfully and intentionally neglected their son’s care, well-being, and medical needs,” Genesee County District Attorney David S. Leyton told The New York Times. “As a result of their neglect, their child suffered from severe bedsores, various skin rashes, and other physical ailments.”
If the parents are convicted of murder and torture, they could face life in prison.
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