In a horrific incident, four people including two women have been arrested for starving a 9-year-old Indiana boy with cerebral palsy to death. The victim weighed only 15 lbs before his death.
The boy, Cameron Hoopingarner, was in cardiac arrest and taken to the local hospital. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
Sheriff Greg Ewing said Cameron, who was blind, was severely malnourished and weighed less than 15 pounds.
Ewing, who has a 9-year-old child of his own was horrified to see the state of the victim. He said that the child’s condition reminded him of the Holocaust. He never encountered such a case in his 26 years as a law enforcement officer. The Sheriff said that it makes him mad that anyone could do such a thing with a blind and physically disabled child.
“It makes me mad, makes me mad that somebody could do this to a child, let alone a child that has physical handicaps and was blind … was given to a guardian to take care of. And this is how he gets treated?” Ewing said. “This is what he deserves? To be starved to death? What kind of animals are they?”
He had been in their care since he was three days old.
“His cause of death was severe malnutrition, and the manner was homicide as ruled preliminarily by the coroner’s office,” Sheriff Ewing said during a press conference. “Essentially in my opinion, he was starved to death.”
Following an investigation, officers arrested Chad Kraemer, 33, Hubert Kraemer, 56, Robin Kraemer, 53, and 30-year-old Sarah Travioli.
The group lived together in the house on Lewsader Avenue where Hubert and Robin Kraemer acted as Cameron’s guardians, Ewing said.
Two other children — ages 5 and 3, belonging to Chad Kraemer and Travioli — were removed from the house by the Department of Child Services, according to reports.
All four were charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death and neglect of a dependent. Chad Kraemer and Travioli were additionally charged with failure to report child neglect.
All of the suspects were being held in the Vigo County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.
Watch the video below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, AP via The Washington Times, My Wabash Valley, WTHI-TV
dan