Officials: 16-Year-Old Girl Weighed Only 43 Pounds At Time Of Death
ONONDAGA, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A Michigan woman has been charged in the death of her 16-year-old daughter who couldn't talk or walk and depended solely on her mother.
Cari Ann Wright of Onondaga Township was charged Monday with murder, first-degree child abuse and torture in connection with her daughter's death, according to The Lansing State Journal. The 43-year-old was ordered to be held without bond in the Ingham County Jail.
Ingham County Sheriff's Detective Charles Buckland testified that medical examiners determined that Hannah Warner died in November 2015 from "neglect caused my malnutrition." He said the girl weighed only 43 pounds and her death was ruled a homicide.
"Upon first glance, it was obvious that the person was gaunt," Buckland said. "Her eyes were sunk in the back of her head. Her skin was tight to her bone, and it appeared that she was malnourished."
An attorney who stood in court with Wright at her arraignment declined to comment and said a court-appointed attorney will handle her defense.
The girl's cause of death has not yet been released. According to the newspaper, Warner had a condition called "chromosome translocation" that required her to use a feeding tube. She had been bedridden for most of her life and required constant care.
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