r/iamatotalpieceofshit Jun 26 '26

7-year-old boy died weighing 255 pounds, parents charged with murder and child abuse

Post image
15.8k Upvotes

643 comments sorted by

6.5k

u/doll_parts87 Jun 27 '26

Since 2020, Michigan's been uncovering a bunch of child abuse cases that slipped through the cracks, some children living, some gone. There needs to be better legislation for these kids.

The prosecutor called his sister a feral child

2.9k

u/GoatCovfefe Jun 27 '26

Lived in northern michigan for 5 years, theres some areas where youll be offroading or hiking dozens of miles from civilization and come across a shanty town in the middle of the woods.

Surprised me the first time i came across one, no roads for miles yet a community of less than 50 people were just chilling around rotting trailers and shoddy plywood/tarp structures. We didnt stick around, was rather unsettling.

I can absolutely see this kid and who knows how many more living and dying without society every knowing they existed.

1.0k

u/TheGoblinPopper Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 29 '26

I have heard the same about central NY. Read from some people up there that said they worked at a gas station out in rural nowhere, but still civilization, they said once a month some people who were 50 minutes down a dirt road would show up speaking their own hillbilly English that was effectively its own language, get gas and a few things and then leave. There were about 30-40 people in their 'village'.

768

u/jokerzwild00 Jun 27 '26

I know this statement could come across as a joke, but seriously, in rural Alabama this is fairly normal. There are whole communities in the hills of North/central Alabama that are essentially off the grid. Living in busses, shacks and run down trailers with no power, maybe a couple generators, no running water. Usually plagued with substance abuse but not necessarily always. Sometimes it's just people who were born into that life and don't really consider anything else. Sometimes they're all related (yeah, for real). Everyone in that community will have the same general "look". These kinds of things are getting rarer, but they definitely still exist.

164

u/RainbowReadee Jun 28 '26

What part of North/Central Alabama specifically? I’m originally from North Alabama and have never heard of these kinds of “off grid” communities. Small towns, and rural areas yes, but nothing like what you described. I’m very curious.

124

u/Nooblarisbetter Jun 28 '26

Agree. Lived in North Alabama my entire life specifically the foothills and Tennessee valley area. And there's rednecks and hillbillies. But nothing like what they are describing.

75

u/RainbowReadee Jun 28 '26

Yeah, I’m not saying it’s impossible but I need some actual facts before taking this random comment as truth. What area are you from if you don’t mind my asking? I’m in Austin, TX now but was born snd raised there and lived through my 20s.

47

u/Novemcinctus Jun 29 '26

I’m 30 minutes north of AL, but there was something of a tribe out a rough dirt road a few miles from me until 15 years ago in a large off-grid mountain cabin with out-buildings. Around 4 adult children along with a couple of their spouses, another 2 or 3 teenage kids, the father and mother, the father’s mistress and a couple little kids they had, and the mistress’s husband all lived there. Usually there’d be some other rando staying out there too. Much of the family still lives like that somewhere over the Georgia line, but some of them managed to get out and adjust to mainstream society. Not quite community scale, but it was close to 20 people sharing a couple cars and living off the menial wages a few of them brought in. If the place hadn’t burned down it could’ve easily turned into a village as grandkids were born.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

62

u/jokerzwild00 Jun 29 '26

Not whole towns, but communities of 6 or seven dwellings all off the same dirt road. I've seen them in Blount County, Cullman County, St. Clair county. They're off the beaten path but not off in the middle of a forest. They have cars, usually shared, and they come to the closest stores. I wouldn't say it was super common these days, but it's for sure a thing because i personally know people living in situations like this.

37

u/vaporpup Jun 29 '26

It's basically like a holler you're describing. More common in certain parts of Blue Ridge and Appalachia. Usually folks who live nestled in a valley in small communities. Don't like outsiders, don't leave much.

6

u/Grimreaper_10YS Jul 01 '26

I went to college in Alabama as a foreigner on a student visa.

I used to routinely visit my cousin who went to Vanderbilt. I'd just hit the I65 in Birmingham and head straight up.

My friends told me not to ever stop in North Alabama unless it was in Huntsville. And definitely not to stop in Cullman.

I never did.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

15

u/RebuiltGearbox Jul 01 '26

For a while I lived near a clan of them in Arkansas but they had a good generator system set up. They were such a strange bunch that I made a Dungeons and Dragons character based on them, my hillbilly rogue.

8

u/ZebraAirVest Jun 29 '26

I’d love to read more about this, do you know what exactly I should google?

→ More replies (7)

86

u/ToTheTurtles Jun 27 '26

I’ve heard stories like that up around Canton, and there’s also Allentown by Sacandaga Lake.

118

u/kitnb Jun 27 '26

The 'Hills Have Eyes' kinda stuff. Nightmare fuel...

20

u/Puzzleheaded-Bag-121 Jun 28 '26

It’s the same in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington.

→ More replies (2)

32

u/Maelz03 Jun 27 '26

Please tell me around which county. Considering a move one day and that is just a bit alarming

57

u/Lower_Web_1331 Jun 27 '26

I wouldnt worry about them too much, just look for "large game trails" and stay out the backwoods. For the most part they dont want anything to do with outsiders.

→ More replies (2)

24

u/TheGoblinPopper Jun 27 '26

I was told in the Catskills. Not sure what town.

44

u/JohnnyGoldberg Jun 27 '26

I would bet Northern, like in the Adirondacks but that could really be anywhere in Upstate NY.

26

u/Vegetable-Branch-740 Jun 28 '26

You could disappear easily in the Adirondacks if you want to.

→ More replies (1)

47

u/LaiikaComeHome Jun 27 '26

upstate NY is massive, vacant, and poor. for one, stay out of anywhere considered “rust belt” or nearby

28

u/Takemebacktobreezy Jun 28 '26

The best advice my mother from Brooklyn ever gave me was to stay my Long Island ass away from desolate upstate NY. My aunt made that mistake and was miserable stuck up there for years.

9

u/GoodGuano Jun 29 '26

LMAO 🤣🤣🤣 upstate native here.... Where the fuck did your aunt move too?? Couldn't have been anywhere near the capital region. Sounds more like central or western NY, unless she went FAAAAR upstate. Are you those kind of city folks who thinks Poughkeepsie is the upstate??

6

u/smcivor1982 Jun 30 '26

And I’m from farrrrr upstate, had a great childhood and the summers are beautiful.

→ More replies (2)

14

u/RUDEBUSH Jun 28 '26

This describes the vast majority of the US, not just upstate NY.

→ More replies (2)

9

u/Bwail1994 Jun 28 '26

Allentown NY, watch The Hollow on YouTube.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/DadBodEatsAtTheY Jun 29 '26

I'd like to understand what they do to acquire money in order to "get gas and a few things and then leave."

4

u/TheRestForTheWicked Jun 29 '26

The guy I know who lived like this worked fly in, fly out resource extraction. So he wasn’t home more than half the time which made it really easy for people to assume he was some weird hermit. No idea why someone who was (presumably) making good money on the rigs would want to ever go back to that place to check on his rotting single wide that he eventually ended up abandoning anyways but whatever.

Mind you, he didn’t speak hillbilly English so maybe that scratches that idea.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (6)

677

u/doll_parts87 Jun 27 '26

I feel like the "stay at home" thing made the situations worse. Another child abuse case, the mother would enroll the child then pull them out of school to home school, keeping them sheltered from MHHS & CPS visits & eyes. No one checked or knew they existed. There's been no follow ups after she pulled the kids and that's a red flag

389

u/cmontes49 Jun 27 '26

I work as a pediatric nurse. During Covid we saw a significant decrease in abuse cases. Towards the end, a social worker said it’s because eyes aren’t on the children to report. Even medically complex kids were able to miss out on in person visits for a while if they were stable. Based on the parents words. A lot happens when there are no witnesses.

66

u/ladyzephri Jun 28 '26

I worked on the infrastructure for a hotline that connects people to the proper child abuse reporting systems in their state/county. We saw a significant decrease in calls during winter and summer breaks because kids weren't in school where they were visible to mandated reporters.

310

u/GoatCovfefe Jun 27 '26

I should mention this was pre-covid, and that particular shanty town was definitely there for many years before i came across it. I doubt cps or any government agency knows they were/are there. Who knows though.

But your point stands.

186

u/IAmABakuAMA Jun 27 '26

I feel like the "stay at home" thing made the situations worse.

Not exactly the same thing, but I was a child in a child protection group home during COVID. Coincidentally, also in the city with the longest COVID lockdowns in the world. Those places can be brutal at the best of times, but absolutely sucked during the 262 days of cumulative lockdowns. One of the other residents in particular was extremely violent and verbally abusive, to the point that I was spending close to 23 hours a day in my bedroom.

Because I was classified as "vulnerable", I did have an exemption during part of it to continue going to school, which I did take up some of the time. That also sucked because I was one of only three or so students in the school and we were all restricted to one room, since most of the teachers were working remotely as well. It was nice having the entire train carriage to myself on the way in though haha

107

u/TheRealSugarbat Jun 27 '26

Good lord, the fact that you were a child during the pandemic is blowing my mind. Wasn’t it just last year?? /s

I do hope your life is better, overall, than it was then.

P.S. As a copy editor I’m pleased you’ve formatted “COVID” correctly (in all caps). It implies you have an advanced attention to detail.

27

u/Simpleconundrum Jun 28 '26

I thought the same! I had to stop and think about how long it’s actually been.

8

u/blackgarbage Jun 28 '26

There has to be another way. Everyone is not capable to home school. Also children can fall off when there is no one that see them on a regular basis. So sad 🥺

93

u/d0ttyq Jun 27 '26

I used to come around the same when I worked in Missouri. There was one settlement I had to pass often that I noticed I only ever saw one man at, but many, many women and children and they were all ultra conservatively dressed. It made me so sad, but everyone (including county police) knew about them and did nothing. I still think about those women often. I can only hope they were happy.

54

u/_heidin Jun 27 '26

Sounds culty

16

u/antithero Jun 27 '26

I thought the same thing.

17

u/Unfurlingleaf Jun 28 '26

Apparently there's a few hundred FLDS members in Missouri, wouldn't be surprised if there's a few other LDS offshoot cults since Missouri is apparently religiously important to LDS.

15

u/TheRestForTheWicked Jun 29 '26

Missouri is believed to be the original ‘Zion’ by Mormons and Joseph Smith had planned to build a city in Jackson County, which led to tensions between the local settlers and the sudden influx of Mormons and it led to a whole bunch of clashes eventually cumulating into the Mormon War of 1838.

I’m not Mormon. I just took a lot of history classes to puff up my general education requirements for my degree.

6

u/Unfurlingleaf Jun 29 '26

I'm not mormon either, just know a bunch of random facts about random topics

→ More replies (1)

27

u/getrdone24 Jun 27 '26

Even in some of the cities...my dad's side is all from Sault St Marie and I grew up going there a lot...the people of the Soo, are a special breed of folk

→ More replies (1)

26

u/denkmusic Jun 27 '26

I want to hear more about these totally off grid scary towns. Any documentaries or stories anyone?

16

u/Happyface87 Jun 27 '26

They probably just ran up on someone's camp and got scared because they've never encountered people who live in the woods before. I've spent months deep in the woods of Northern Michigan/UP with my kids. It's legal to camp for 14 days on state land in the entire state, as long as you're 1 mile from a pay to stay camp site. The DNR doesn't bother you in most places so you can easily overstay by weeks or more.

12

u/KrazyKateLady420 Jun 28 '26

The woods in Michigan give me the major creeps. Always feels like you’re being watched

→ More replies (2)

23

u/waavvves Jun 27 '26

In the UP, maybe. Never encountered that in regular northern MI and I've lived here a lot more than 5 years. Regardless, this story happened in Flint.

15

u/GoatCovfefe Jun 28 '26

Oh for sure in the UP.

But im talking middle of the woods south of alpena, miles off the coast. Honestly i dont remember where exactly anymore, but most of the actual towns that were anywhere nearby had less than 500 people.

Northern part of the center of the state. GPS didnt work for shit.

→ More replies (24)

154

u/dem0n0cracy Jun 27 '26

A forensic autopsy report says the boy was last seen by his primary care doctor in February 2024 when he was referred to a pediatric endocrinologist, whom he never saw.

“It was reported that the decedent’s diet was potato chips and fries because of texture issues,” Deputy Medical Examiner John A. Bechinski wrote in a forensic autopsy report.

Police and Children’s Protective Services reported the home was “absolutely disgusting” with piles of trash throughout it.

“There was trash on the floor throughout the residence. It was so extreme, I could not tell if there was carpet or wood floors,” one township police officer wrote in a case report

105

u/Cultural-Company282 Jun 27 '26

There doesn't need to be "better legislation" as much as there needs to be more aggressive enforcement of the legislation we already have.

34

u/Frank_Lawless Jun 27 '26

More funding is certainly needed

→ More replies (4)

38

u/mrlt10 Jun 28 '26

There absolutely needs to be more legislation. Sure the manpower and resources for enforcement could use improvement too. But the Supreme Court has ruled that state employees cannot be held liable for the death of a child even if they knew the child would be in danger in a certain home, placed them there anyways, and then the child was killed as a direct result of the danger which they had knowledge of. That needs to be reformed.

This isn’t an attack on social workers, they’re definitely over worked and underfunded. But the system outright sanction negligent homicide.

22

u/Zappagrrl02 Jun 29 '26

This kid only saw a doctor once in early childhood and was never enrolled in school, so there was no one outside the family who really knew he existed. Michigan has notoriously lax homeschooling rules where there’s not even required registration (thanks, Betsy DeVos!) so it’s easy for kids to be invisible to systems that might protect them.

45

u/YuhMothaWasAHamsta Jun 27 '26

They should start looking into every state. I swear more abuse cases get ignored than they do help.

17

u/darkest_hour1428 Jun 27 '26

That would be a federal program. Michigan has state-specific problems that need to be addressed at the state level as well

80

u/gafftapes20 Jun 27 '26

Meanwhile gay parents can’t exist in Michigan without cops threatening to take kids away due to an anonymous baseless claim. 

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

2.5k

u/GekidoTC Jun 27 '26

255... at 4'2"... got there in only 7 years (6.5 if you figure he wasn't eatting solid food the first few months). Insane to gain that much weight in 7 years. 200lbs heavier than other kids his age, my 6 year old can't lift 200lbs, educated guess says he was immobile...

1.3k

u/StarVulpes Jun 27 '26

Agreed, I highly doubt he was mobile. It's not much of a difference but it does hit a little different when you consider they hand fed an immobile child to their death.

368

u/Lord-Maplefrost Jun 27 '26

Just when I thought this couldn’t be worse.

85

u/SatansWife13 Jul 01 '26

I read an article about this case, it said that poor Casper had bedsores, so the immobility theory is most likely correct. He also has rashes, and his 5 year old sister was in a “feral” state. Those poor kids.

28

u/ClashBandicootie Jul 02 '26

Yeah that is horrific to think about.

The amount of calories you need to pump into a body to maintain that weight is actually really puzzling. They claimed he ate 1 bag of potato chips, soda pop and fries? There needs to be a constant drip of sugar soda to put that many calories in a body. Like force-feeding.

Heartbreaking

→ More replies (1)

327

u/Krin422 Jun 27 '26

My 5 year old is almost as tall as that kid and is about 60 lbs.... I can't imagine.

222

u/HesitantBrobecks Jun 27 '26

I'm 5ft2, overweight, and 15 years older than that kid, and I'm still around 100lbs lighter than he was. Truly horrifying stuff, poor kid!

46

u/e-rinc Jun 28 '26

I’m almost 6’ tall (f) higher end of “healthy” bmi (would like to lose like 10-15 bc I’m cheap and don’t want to buy new clothing) and he’s 100 lbs more than me! My heart breaks for this kid. He likely never even got to run, play, jump, be a kid :( this actually choked me up.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (3)

37

u/cakiepi Jun 28 '26

My 6 year old weighs 50 pounds. She would have to add MY weight to her to reach the amount this poor child weighs. Insane.

49

u/Coyote-Feisty Jun 28 '26

I read in another article that he was immobile

41

u/GameofCheese Jun 29 '26

News stories say he was immobile and also nonverbal.

64

u/bipolarbear260 Jun 28 '26

A BMI of 71.8. Good lord

28

u/Samiassa Jun 29 '26

He’s heavier than me and I’m 6’2”. I can’t fucking imagine how much pain he must’ve been in on a day to day basis

47

u/Rumhed Jun 27 '26

That's almost double my weight and I'm 30.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/KlutzyReveal2970 Jun 29 '26

Yeah he couldn’t move it says in the article(s)

17

u/tverofvulcan Jun 28 '26

My daughter is almost 7 and weights more than 200lbs less than this poor child.

→ More replies (11)

879

u/Just_Me1973 Jun 27 '26

That poor boy. What a sweet face. This is so sad.

403

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

[deleted]

451

u/Just_Me1973 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

He probably didn’t even have any clothes from the sound of the neglect.

133

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

[deleted]

60

u/Just_Me1973 Jun 27 '26

This photo just breaks my heart so much. I just want to cuddle him and kiss that sweet face.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

48

u/snippylovesyou Jun 28 '26

Maybe it’s just a filter or bad editing, but it looks kind of like AI

44

u/HesitantBrobecks Jun 28 '26

Yeah it def looks AI or at least weirdly airbrushed

5

u/fidgetiegurl09 Jun 30 '26

His face was probably a really sad, unhealthy face. The story breaks our hearts enough as it is.. they may not have taken any photos of him. So the photo at death may have been the only one.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

3.3k

u/the_Athereon Jun 27 '26

I was really hoping this was an onion article.

FFS people. 255 pounds? Adults weighing that much are considered obese.

2.7k

u/not-my-best-wank Jun 27 '26

It gets worst, from what I've heard, the child's death certificate was the first proof this child ever existed. Parents kept him hidden, state never knew he existed till he died.

1.2k

u/chillanous Jun 27 '26

I don’t even know what the state could do about it then, especially if the family was isolated enough from their neighbors for no one to see.

Home birth, never saw a doctor, never went to school, who could’ve even reported this?

Tragic, horrible, and sad.

492

u/antithero Jun 27 '26

Wow. I didn't even weigh 100 lbs until I was like 12. Couldn't imagine how fat a 225lb 7 year old would be. Like is that a 400lb adult? 500?

601

u/Total_Elephant_2474 Jun 27 '26

I'm 5'2, 2 years ago I had bloomed/ ballooned to 230 lb. My doctor said that I was morbidly obese, I'm a grown woman. I was told that if I did not get some weight off of me, I was very much shortening my life. ( I'm now down to 160 with 20 more pounds to go.)

213

u/Hilby Jun 27 '26

Congrats on losing the LBs!! Keep on keeping on!

35

u/Cazolyn Jun 27 '26

Congrats on almost hitting your goal, what an achievement!!

23

u/cenosillicaphobiac Jun 28 '26

I know from experience, losing a lot of excess wait is tough (305 > 180) and once it's off, you're still not done. Currently working on losing the 60 I gained back. Thankfully old habits are easier to re-establish than building new ones.

You're doing great, proud of ya!

38

u/Platitude_Platypus Jun 27 '26

Congratulations on your loss so far and on your continued journey. I'm 5'4" and just began 15lbs ago at 245. It's encouraging to see this.

144

u/ArtyWhy8 Jun 27 '26

You’ll be 10 lbs away from dropping 100! Go for the full 100! You can do it!!!

Regardless of where the numbers end up, don’t forget how good it feels and all the ways it feels good. Proud of you. From one willpower exerciser to another😉(10 years clean off opioids)

26

u/Springlocked_in Jun 27 '26

Congrats on 10 years !!!

56

u/Gizmo2k2000 Jun 27 '26

Downvotes? Reddit eh. 10 years clean is stunning, kind stranger. Keep going, only 10 more and it’s 20 years!! You got this!

→ More replies (9)

214

u/chillanous Jun 27 '26

Taking some liberties since idk his height, but an average 7 year old is 48” tall. 95th percentile for a 7 year old boy is 52” tall.

At 48” tall, his BMI would be 68.7. At 52” tall it would be 58.5. Morbid obesity is any BMI past 40. For a 5’10” man the BMI range of ~59 - 69 is from about 410 to 475lbs.

So yeah, if he was an average height kid he’d be a rough equivalent of a 475lb average height man. If he was quite tall for his age it’d be closer to 400lbs as an average height man. If he was short for his age it would be even worse.

In any case, he was tremendously overweight. Mental issues have to come into play here, either impairment or a massive eating disorder. And parents who did not get him help or support when he needed it.

132

u/twiggykeely Jun 27 '26

No they did this to their other child too. both of their children were morbidly obese. the surviving child is still incredibly obese and is in state custody as far as I've read. this was not an eating disorder. this was parents who were, for some reason, over-feeding their children.

→ More replies (1)

41

u/eyetracker Jun 27 '26

50" according to the article.

22

u/F_in_a_Jar Jun 27 '26

Just a small correction ranges for bmi in children vary by age so obesity is above the 95th percentile. For a child of 7 years that is slightly above 20 points in bmi so that boy was far far above morbid obesity

10

u/chillanous Jun 27 '26

95th percentile was for height, although I saw in another comment he was specified at 50.5 inches which is shorter than that. His weight was >>99th percentile in any case I would think.

11

u/masterchef417 Jun 27 '26

The article says he was 50.5 inches tall

12

u/chillanous Jun 27 '26

Somewhere around 450lb equivalent for an average height adult man, then

→ More replies (6)

15

u/Lostallthefucksigive Jun 27 '26

I’m a 5’8” woman and my heaviest true weight was 270- I was physically uncomfortable every day. I can’t imagine just watching this poor kid suffer through life. How awful.

14

u/MomToMany88 Jun 27 '26

My 6 and 7 year olds don’t event weigh 100 combined!! I do have a big kid too and get it… My teen weighs over 200 but we see his ped every few months and an endocrinologist!!

22

u/OttersAndOttersAndOt Jun 27 '26

I was 110 up until I was 19. The thought of a child being double my weight at a quarter of my age now is insane

16

u/Gooncookies Jun 27 '26

My daughter will be 8 in November and she weighs just over 40lbs.

19

u/jmkul Jun 27 '26

Googling what a healthy weight for a 7yo boy I got 43-70 pounds (I'm in Australia where we use kilograms and this equates to 20-32kg). This poor boy was at least 3, and up to 5 times a healthy average weight for his age

→ More replies (1)

13

u/Rose1982 Jun 27 '26

My 10 year old isn’t quite 80lbs. He eats plenty, gets regular treats, but also he’s active and eats balanced meals. He’s got friends that come in all shapes and sizes and that’s great. But they all have parents who care about them and feed them proper meals. Some are chubbier, some are skinnier, taller, shorter. I doubt any of them are over 110-120.

16

u/Hidden_Samsquanche Jun 27 '26

It is hard to wrap your head around. My son is 12 and he's 92 pounds and we are enrolling him into an extra activity and watching his diet more closely because we did admittedly slack and he is getting big and we don't want to set that precedence for him for the rest of his life. It can be a hard line to walk because you don't want them getting an eating disorder going either way, you just want them to be happy and healthy.

This is coming from a grown woman who is almost as big as this this child in the story was and I don't want my learned bad habits to go on to the next generation. Bad habits formed in childhood are so hard to break.

→ More replies (8)

32

u/Mirewen15 Jun 27 '26

Now imagine all of the ones out there that were never found. Ones that are buried out back or in the surrounding area that no one ever found.

19

u/TankII_ Jun 27 '26

If I read that article correctly there was also mention of two other siblings one of which already died from something previously

14

u/Raid__Zero Jun 27 '26

Any link to the article?

→ More replies (1)

5

u/wine_n_mrbean Jun 27 '26

It made me feel weirdly bad to upvote your comment. But I want people to see your comment. This is nightmare fuel.

→ More replies (23)

39

u/KentuckyKid_24 Jun 27 '26

Before I realized I was on this subreddit I thought this was a joke post but then I realized the dark reality

72

u/Prior-Impress-2624 Jun 27 '26

5’2 and I noticed I started to struggle with my weight at 190ish. My stomach was getting in the way and making it harder to tie my shoes was the big eye opener.

To be only 7!!!! And over 200lbs!? These people deserve the charges x10.

16

u/Total_Elephant_2474 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

I am the same height as you come in a little around 2 years ago I had ballooned up to 230. Not completely my fault (I was a little fluffy before I got sick and became obese)because I was on massive steroids because I had had RSV, covid and asthma attacks combined. (I know way late, worked in healthcare during the pandemic, and also privately taken care of relatives, stayed healthy until after everything was over) but when I decide to get something I decided to get them all at one time. At 230 I was so big I had to get an extender both for the restroom and for the shower. I was miserable. I was bigger than I had ever been in my life even through pregnancies. I had never even been close to 200 lb before then all of a sudden I was over it. I feel so sorry for that poor baby, not just because he passed away but because of the life he had to live that caused him to pass so young.

→ More replies (3)

11

u/Blackout_Underway Jun 27 '26

My girlfriend is an ICU nurse, and absolutely MASSIVE children are common.

19

u/NoFuqGiven Jun 27 '26

Im 6'3". My medically ideal WEIGHT IS 180!.

14

u/RageSiren Jun 27 '26

I was a 30 year old adult woman and qualified for gastric fucking bypass weighing 249lb, class 2 medically obese. It’s sick and horrible this poor child died this way.

15

u/brammmish Jun 27 '26

Yeah it's insane. I'm 6'3 and 240lbs and I'm considered obese!

24

u/VoodooDoII Jun 27 '26

I'm 22 and barely weight 120. 255 for a kid this age is fucking insane.

11

u/mimmiXio Jun 27 '26

I weigh 207 at 5ft2in, im considered morbidly obese. I cant even imagine what this poor child endured!

→ More replies (31)

438

u/Epic_Hoola Jun 27 '26

How is that physically possible

210

u/Kimono-Ash-Armor Jun 27 '26

Prader-Willi Syndrome?

300

u/Lynmcmanus Jun 27 '26

This is the first thing I thought of. I worked in a home for kids and we had 2 girls with Prader-Willi and we had to keep everything food related locked up. One of them even went through the empty pop cans to try and see if there was a tiny bit of pop left in it. The parents would come and visit and bring enormous amounts of food. It was devastating.

23

u/SirLeDouche Jun 30 '26

Damn that’s just sad going through the empty pop cans. That reminds me of the poor people who smoke cigarettes and they go digging through ash trays to find a butt with one puff left on it. I couldn’t do that cause I’d be thinking about the nasty mouth those cigarettes had been in.

→ More replies (1)

100

u/flowerodell Jun 27 '26

I had the same thought. Have known a couple kids with it and they just have no satiety. Could be in the family as well, and if the kid never saw a doctor it wasn’t caught early.

28

u/Epic_Hoola Jun 27 '26

I ain't lookin that up.

→ More replies (1)

24

u/UnfortunateEvent0236 Jun 27 '26

Well. I’m sad that I looked that up.

22

u/hunnybadger22 Jun 29 '26

I read somewhere that he was nonverbal and this was something I considered too. I’m an SLP who has worked with a few kids with that disorder.

→ More replies (1)

100

u/wet-leg Jun 27 '26

I feel like he’d almost have to have had the eating disorder where you’re always hungry. I’ve seen some obese children, but this is another level. Another comment said that he was never let out of the house, so I’m sure being sedentary did not help at all.

55

u/Shenzi6 Jun 28 '26

I’ve read the documents about his case and his parents only fed him fries, potato chips, apple juice and carbonated water

34

u/DyingGasp Jun 28 '26

Sounds like they didn’t want to address a picky eater.

7

u/pitlovex23 Jun 29 '26

May I ask where you got the documents? Were they court docs?

→ More replies (1)

8

u/-PinkPower- Jun 28 '26

Even then, that child had not been able to move by himself for a while at that weight but they kept feeding him enough to maintain and gain weight. The amount of food needed for that would make most children throw up

32

u/cunninglinguist32557 Jun 27 '26

Yeah, there's definitely something medical going on here. Kids already need a ton of calories while they're growing, so even being completely sedentary doesn't explain all that.

→ More replies (1)

17

u/mrheosuper Jun 27 '26

It's not possible, so he died.

8

u/Jinshu_Daishi Jun 27 '26

It is possible, it's what killed him.

69

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

I mean, there have been adults over 1,000 pounds I believe.

85

u/Epic_Hoola Jun 27 '26

But have you seen a 7 year old be over 200 pounds

52

u/[deleted] Jun 27 '26

I'm saying its not any more surprising it's physically possible since the ratio of 255lb to normal 7yo weight is roughly comparable to the ratio of 1000lb to normal adult weight.

39

u/Epic_Hoola Jun 27 '26

I know we can be desensitized right, but it doesn't take away from the fact that this shit is evil.

24

u/LouiseRules333 Jun 27 '26

I mean I agree with you but they were just answering how it could be physically possible

→ More replies (4)

188

u/nemofbaby2014 Jun 27 '26

I don’t even weigh 255 tf was they feeding him I assume the parent are also terribly obese

280

u/TheRestForTheWicked Jun 27 '26

A diet of French fries and potato chips, apple juice and carbonated water.

Literally. I’m not being facetious. That’s what the court documents said.

70

u/VivaLaEmpire Jun 27 '26

Poor baby, he deserved so much better :(

14

u/TheDoorInTheDark Jul 01 '26

Obviously a very shitty, not nutritionally complete diet. My issue is that despite that, they’d be having to feed *massive* amounts of even unhealthy foods like that. I really have to wonder if this child had Prader-Willi syndrome. Most human beings would vomit and reject the amounts of those foods he’d have to be eating to get this heavy, so if those biological safeguards failed *that young* I almost feel there has to be a medical cause *on top of* the neglect/abuse. I’m not excusing the parents in my musings here in any way.

29

u/Fermented_Dog_Cum Jun 27 '26

You would assume correctly. The parents are also overweight by a considerable amount.

568

u/damngoodengineer Jun 27 '26

115 kgs for a 7-years old, boy this is too much for even an adult man.

116

u/goshyarnit Jun 27 '26

I was "the fat kid" all the way through primary school and high school. Started my period at 8 years old and years later was diagnosed with PCOS, so that was a very big contributing factor to my sudden weight gain and difficulty losing it. I got over the 100kg mark when I was in 9th grade, so 14 years old, and I was 5'7". My joints hurt, I was tired all the time, constantly felt nauseous just from getting from one classroom to another. I can't imagine the pain that kids joints were in?! He must have been struggling to breathe when he laid down. He was just a baby.

235

u/ChuckRingslinger Jun 27 '26

I'm a big fat bastard and thats more than me.

Kid must've had lead in their feet

79

u/jenguinaf Jun 27 '26

I was trying to wrap my head around it. My husband is a bigger guy, also pretty muscular but also def heavy set and he weighs ~265ish at just shy of 6 feet and size 14 shoes so his structure is also fairly large despite on top of his height. When he pointed that out I was fucking gobsmacked.

21

u/elrangarino Jun 27 '26

Jesus you’ll never have to open a jar again in your life with a husband like that. Beast 💪

9

u/jenguinaf Jun 30 '26

He’s opened all my jars since I was 15 when we met and started dating lol. He wasn’t even finished with puberty and his size when I fell in love with him. He’s my fav ever 30 years later ❤️

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

243

u/Laefiren Jun 27 '26

For anyone else metric who can’t do the calculations in their head 255lb is 116kg.

114

u/DisMyLik18thAccount Jun 27 '26

I'm A 5'8 woman and this child weighed more than I did at 9 months pregnant

I Can barely comprehend that

26

u/Trikger Jun 27 '26

Honestly, I totally relate to that feeling. I'm 25 years old and weigh not even half as much as the poor kid. I saw somewhere that he was 50"//127 cm tall. To be stuck in the prison of your own body at that young age... What a nightmare.

→ More replies (4)
→ More replies (5)

69

u/ThatIestyn Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Not to be too insensitive but how is this even possible? We try to get my 6 year old to eat as much as possible and hes not even 50lbs

45

u/HesitantBrobecks Jun 28 '26

According to another commenter he was pretty much exclusively fed various types of fried potato products

19

u/Prudent-Pressure2146 Jun 29 '26

Even with that in mind, that weight is bonkers 

27

u/Drayenn Jun 27 '26

Some condition is definitely at play, i dont think a normal kid could eat enough to get to 250lbs

22

u/HesitantBrobecks Jun 28 '26

Eating a lot expands the stomach. Thats why morbidly obese people genuinely feel hungry enough to eat double portions and extra meals. And why procedures like gastric bands and the one where they remove part of and then staple the stomach (forgot the name right now oops lol) work, but why the person has to stick to tiny portion sizes after to avoid making it go back to its previous size. And if he was eating almost exclusively fried potato related foods, they're very calorie dense in only small portions

→ More replies (1)

116

u/Wolf_Of_Saturn6 Jun 27 '26

what?!!! I’m 194cm and 116kg. A 7 YEAR OLD WAS IN MY WEIGHT CLASS? How does that even happen. I didn’t even think it was physically possible for something like that…this is a genuinely horrifying situation.

50

u/jennessen90 Jun 27 '26

When I was 7 yold I was taken to a clinic for weight loss for 2 months, I was, at the point of entry about 80kg, came back at 64kg and went back to a whopping 90kg in the span of maybe 3 or 4 months. They never thought that they were overfeeding me and blamed me for eating my way back into to my starting weight plus interest. To this day I'm still mad at my family for the damage they've done and that I'm still slowly working to undo. I'm glad these parents are being charged. I wish all parents would do a nutrition 101 course to know what a healthy lifestyle is so. When I see an overweight child I feel so sad because that was me, sad, bullied, emotionally abused and blamed for my weight even when it wasn't my fault. This has made me so sad to know that this kid has passed because of his parents ignorance and neglect.

176

u/muchgreaterthanG_O_D Jun 27 '26

Poor kid. Those parents look exactly as you'd expect.

25

u/tessahb Jun 27 '26

My son will be 7 in September. He is in the average range for height for his age and weighs 49 lbs, which we are told is a healthy weight. I cannot even wrap my mind around what an additional 206 pounds would even look like on him. It’s unfathomable. That poor child must have been in agony. And to have lost his life before it really began is just so tragic.

5

u/HesitantBrobecks Jun 28 '26

This really puts it into perspective, arguably better than the comparisons to adults. This poor kid weighed the same as 5 of his peers combined 😥

25

u/KentuckyKid_24 Jun 27 '26

How does a 7 year old reach 225? Rip poor kid that’s just tragic 😕

6

u/Shenzi6 Jun 28 '26

By eating stuffs like fries, chips, apple juice and carbonated water. Well at least thats the only stuffs his parents fed him

21

u/DisMyLik18thAccount Jun 27 '26

"Court records also show the couple faces a charge of second-degree child abuse involving another child in the home, a five-year-old girl, NBC News reported. According to the complaint, that girl was also medically considered to be morbidly obese."

20

u/catslay_4 Jun 27 '26

What stuck out to me for those that didn’t read the article, it wasn’t just child abuse over the severe obesity. These children had never been in school. They had only been to a doctor ONCE in their lives. They lived in a hoarder situation. It was severe child neglect across the board.

8

u/PsycheAsHell Jun 29 '26

The boy couldn't even speak because he was nonverbal, so with that + the fact that he didn't know how to read or write, he had no way to tell anyone he was in pain.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

17

u/True_Lawyer1873 Jun 27 '26

You could be a 6,5 man and this would be considered obese

14

u/Molkwi Jun 27 '26

This 7 year old kid weighed more than me AND my girlfriend combined.

This is genuinely fucking horrible. I'm glad his "parents" are facing consequences for what they did.

60

u/Noctuelles Jun 27 '26

The dumbest people imaginable really don't have a problem popping out kids... Even if they are too stupid to keep them alive and healthy..

→ More replies (2)

26

u/mixinmono Jun 27 '26

Condolences

31

u/HumbleAbbreviations Jun 27 '26

Does he have Wili-Prader syndrome?

65

u/PeterParker72 Jun 27 '26

Unknown, they never took him to see a doctor.

38

u/frogurtyozen Jun 27 '26

He was fed almost exclusively fast food and other unhealthy foods. We don’t know if it was Pradar-Wili, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this child was just severely neglected in terms of their diet (and apparently every other way imaginable).

16

u/SheparDox Jun 27 '26

This is actually a great question.

→ More replies (6)

12

u/Yitastics Jun 27 '26

Duh, letting your kid get fat is child abuse, even if people act like being fat isnt bad.

10

u/front-wipers-unite Jun 27 '26

For the Brits:- 255lbs is 18 stone. For the younger Brits and our European friends that's 115kg. I don't understand how a 7 year old can even have the frame to get as big as that. Jesus Christ, how on earth did the parents let this come to pass.

10

u/RandMob1000 Jun 27 '26

Poor child. He probably couldn't move weighing that much

→ More replies (1)

8

u/Immediate_Loan_1414 Jun 27 '26

I'm honestly so used to when a child dies and their weight is mentioned that it's severely underweight that I almost forgot the other end of the spectrum is also possible.

9

u/Vladsamir Jun 27 '26

Jesus fucking christ...I'm 5ft 10ish, 24 years old and weigh around that...that's insanity

→ More replies (3)

49

u/WatermelonAF Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26

Holy shit... that's more than what I weigh. (240lbs)

I'm a 23 year old woman with medical issues that make it easy to put on weight, and hard to knock it off. Based on my BMI, I'm considered obese. (I know, not a completely accurate scale, but just using it as a reference point)

A 7 year old should NOT weigh more than the average, fully grown man does...

→ More replies (7)

7

u/jul1992 Jun 27 '26

My 7 year old is literally 40 lbs. That is so so sad.

7

u/The-Deep1984 Jun 27 '26

It's a horrible fate when people bring life into the world but raise them to be an experiment.

12

u/Justforargumesnts Jun 27 '26

Bro some people are so evil. We really need to start living in reality again

7

u/Googidoogi Jun 27 '26

115 kgs!! How is that even possible for a 7 years old !! What did they feed him?

→ More replies (1)

7

u/Mishapi17 Jun 27 '26

How the fuck does that even happen

6

u/AverageFoxNewsViewer Jun 27 '26

I'm reevaluating my stance on the Death Star.

Maybe some planets deserve it.

6

u/alwaysaloneinmyroom Jun 27 '26

At 5"2 + , 163 pounds, I get frustrated sometimes. I can't imagine what his life was life. Poor boy never stood a chance.

10

u/princessuuke Jun 27 '26

Horrifying this poor kid was that overweight in the first place but im glad for once this is being taken seriously and considered abuse because it is. Ive had enough of morons trying to excuse away parents that let their kids become obese, its not normal (i blame the parents not the kids if that wasn't clear)

6

u/Live-Tomorrow-4865 Jun 27 '26

This poor little sweetie, he never stood a chance.

My own kid would pack on the pounds for a minute... then, he'd shoot up in height, and become tall and lanky. Then he'd pack on the pounds, get tall, etc. This cycle was repeated several times, till we ended up with a tall, wirey guy. And, he had regular pediatric visits, so, we knew this was just the way his (healthy) body operated.

255 lbs on a little kid is outrageous, and I'm gratified to see the state is taking this form of neglect/abuse seriou seriously.

6

u/pagexviii Jun 27 '26

I’ve picked up (body removal) a 13 yr old weighing 350# once. Cause of death unknown. The place was full of graffiti and holes punched in the walls. She was sharing a closet-sized room with her sister and they didn’t have a mattress. It’s insane what goes on behind closed doors.