• Wisconsin man guilty of neglect for starving teen daughter

    Dane County Sheriff's Office

    Chad Chritton is accused of imprisoning his daughter in the family basement.

    By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A jury convicted a Wisconsin father accused of locking his teenage daughter in a basement and starving her of felony child neglect late Friday, but was unable to reach a verdict on four other felony counts.

    Jurors found Chad Chritton guilty of felony child neglect, but they told the judge they couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the other felonies he faced, including child abuse and false imprisonment. He was found not guilty of a misdemeanor neglect charge.

    Chritton denied harming his daughter, who is now 16, and says she weighed just 68 pounds when she ran away from home because she didn't like to eat. The defense claims the girl has mental problems and was threatening the family.

    Chritton, 41, declined to take the stand in his own defense, saying he wasn't sure he could "competently answer questions without getting confused," the Wisconsin State Journal reported.


    The teen was found wandering the street, barefoot and in pajamas, on Feb. 6, 2012, and eventually told authorities a tale of terrible abuse.

    On the witness stand earlier this week, she said her father and stepmother kept her locked up in the basement, which had an alarm on the door.

    Her father choked her and called her "Stinky," she said, according to the State Journal.

    She said she slept on a bare floor, used containers as a toilet and scrounged for scraps of food because she feared making a raid on the kitchen.

    "The reason why I didn't want to eat was because I was afraid to ask my dad and stepmom because I was afraid they'd say no," she testified.

    Her stepmother, Melinda Drabek-Chritton, is due to be tried next month. Her stepbrother, Joshua Drabek, 19, is awaiting a June trial on charges he tried to sexually assault the teen.

    The girl's foster mother testified that when she first came to her house, she would sneak into the kitchen at night and gorge herself. But she's since started eating normally and is up to 120 pounds. She also goes to school, plays the flute and participates in swimming and cross-country track.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

     

    WMTV - NBC15 Madison, Wisconsin:

     

    This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:49 PM EDT

  • Authorities: Remains in Texas creek likely boy who was starved to death

    NBCDFW.com

    Authorities are conducting tests on the body of Johnathan Ramsey to determine if he was starved to death.

    By NBC 5 Dallas Fort Worth, msnbc.com staff and news services

    Skeletal remains found in a rural creek south of Dallas are likely those of Johnathan Ramsey, a 10-year-old boy who was allegedly starved to death by his parents, authorities said Wednesday.


    Judge Bill Woody said the Dallas County medical examiner made the provisional identification based on circumstances of the case as described by investigators. DNA test results are pending, and X-ray tests will be conducted to determine if the boy was starved to death, he added.

    The medical examiner's office declined to comment because the case involves remains found in another county.

    Read the full story at NBC 5 Dallas Fort Worth

    The boy's father, Aaron Ramsey, and his stepmother, Elizabeth Ramsey, face charges of injury to a child. Each is being held at the Dallas County Jail on $500,000 bail.

    Authorities say the boy was confined to a room and starved as punishment. 

    According to affidavits, the boy's father said he found the boy unconscious in his room and that he wrapped the child up and put him in a vacant nearby house's storm shelter. Ramsey told investigators he dumped the boy's body in Ennis, Texas, a day or two later.

    The Dallas Morning News reported that the remains were discovered Saturday in a creek bed where authorities say the child's father told police he put the body last year. The bones also were inside a sleeping bag matching one described by the father.

    The remains were found "under a log" in three feet of water, Woody said. 

    Starla Swanson, the boy's maternal step-grandmother, said the medical examiner's office contacted Johnathan's mother with the news on Wednesday.

    "It's been very rough knowing that he's been gone this long," Swanson said. "Her emotions and the whole family's are so mixed, but now it's become painfully real."

    The Associated Press and msnbc.com's Alastair Jamieson contributed to this report.

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