A Milwaukee mother has been charged after her 16-year-old son died at a weight of 42 pounds.
Iraida Pizarro-Osorio said her son suffered from a genetic disorder, seizures, epilepsy and had autism. She also said he was unable to gain weight because of these conditions, according to the criminal complaint.
Pizarro-Osorio took her son to a health center on Wednesday after finding him unresponsive in his bedroom with blood coming out of his mouth.
Pizarro-Osorio told police her son's appetite had altered in the past weeks and he had lost 15 pounds. When asked why she didn't bring him to the emergency room, she said she was scared child protective services would be called and would take her children away.
The Bureau of Child Welfare became involved with Pizarro-Osorio and her son after he suffered a severe seizure in December of 2017.
After this, someone with Child Welfare visited Pizarro-Osorio's home twice a week for six months for concerns of malnutrition until the teen's weight increased from 60 pounds to 68-70 pounds.
In interviews with police after the teen's death, Pizarro-Osorio's 18-year-old daughter said that her mother had placed a lock on the son's bedroom door to make sure he didn't leave his room at night.
Pizarro-Osoiro admitted to this, saying she would feed her son dinner, then lock him in his room and wait until he was asleep to reopen the door so that she could hear if he was having a seizure.
Pizarro-Osorio is charged with one count of chronic neglect of a child - consequence is great bodily harm for which she faces fines up to $100,000 and/or imprisonment up to 25 years.
An autopsy of the 16-year-old's body later revealed multiple signs of severe malnutrition and ulcers to his right hip, left hip and shoulder.
Child protective services had been notified of malnutrition concerns of the child four times total. Once in December 2016, then again in November 2017, February of 2018 and finally in March of 2018.
