When a 15-year-old girl was brought to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, she weighed only 66 pounds, the average weight of a 9-year-old girl, a doctor said Monday.
Dr. Stephen Messner testified in the case of Jade Jacobs and William Brown on Friday. Brown and Jacobs are charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment for allegedly starving Jacobs' 15-year-old autistic daughter and locking her in a basement closet in their Lawrenceville home.
The AJC is not naming the daughter because she is a minor and an alleged victim of abuse.
When the daughter was brought to CHOA in 2014, she was “starving” and covered in bruises, scars and wounds in the process of healing, Messner said. Messner, a child abuse pediatrician at CHOA, treated Jacobs’ daughter when she was brought to the hospital in August 2014.
The daughter also had pressure sores on her knees, ankles, lower back and buttocks, Messner said. Pressure sores — similar to bedsores —form when someone is unable to move, whether due to immobility or restraint.
“There is no reason a 15-year-old who is up and walking should have these injuries unless she’s been confined,” Messner said.
When Messner saw the severity of the daughter’s pressure sores, he thought she had been kept in a cage.
“Go find the cage they kept her in,” he said he told a detective.
The trial will continue into next week. The prosecution has said they expect to rest their case on Monday or Tuesday.
About the Author
