An Alabama mother is accused of neglecting her 12-year-old daughter for weeks on end, allowing the medically vulnerable girl to waste away and ultimately die of sepsis with live maggots found in her diaper.
Leslie Denise Wilson, 35, now faces a murder charge, according to jail records.
A criminal complaint obtained by local Fox affiliate WBRC states that the girl endured “ongoing and extreme medical and/or physical neglect causing serious physical injury” between May 1 and June 17, the day she died.
Officers in Gadsden, a city roughly 60 miles northeast of Birmingham, initially responded to the home believing they were dealing with a natural death.
That assessment didn’t hold up. During a hearing this past Tuesday held under Aniah’s Law — which permits judges to deny bond to people charged with certain violent offenses — a Gadsden police officer testified that the circumstances surrounding the girl’s death were far from natural.
Det. Alec Burgess walked the court through the condition he encountered when he arrived at the home, describing a child with cerebral palsy who depended on a feeding tube, according to a courtroom account from WBRC.
The girl, whose identity has not been released, had visible marks on her body and weighed only 32 pounds at the time of her death, Burgess testified. For comparison, a typical 12-year-old girl weighs around 92 pounds.
Investigators also found live maggots in her diaper. Burgess told the court she was suffering from pneumonia and showed signs of malnutrition and dehydration when she died.
According to the complaint, Wilson had instructed the girl’s siblings to look after her, but the household reportedly did not have adequate food on hand.
More from Law&Crime: Mom blames child protective services after boyfriend, a convicted child abuser, allegedly killed her infant daughter while babysitting
Jail records show Wilson was booked into the Etowah County Jail on Monday and is currently being held without bond. No future court date had been scheduled as of the latest reports.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources has opened its own investigation into the case.
Follow Law&Crime:
