Detectives are releasing more information surrounding the death of a 3-year-old Texas boy with disabilities who was found in a Port Arthur home.
Port Arthur Police said the child identified as King Dewey had been locked in a padded closet.
Officers found him, early Tuesday when someone at the house called the police. When police got to the home, they say the boy looked like a skeleton.
He weighed only 19 pounds, according to Justice of the Peace Mark Derouen.
The boy’s mother and his sister are already at the Jefferson County Jail charged with two counts of injury to a child. Port Arthur Police are searching for fugitive Jaylin Lewis, who is also involved in the death of Dewey.
Port Arthur Police detective Mike Hebert said even veteran officers are struggling with this case.
“It’s hard to fathom when you see what took place in the house,” Hebert said.
Hebert said Port Arthur Police received a call around 7:25 a.m. Tuesday from someone inside the home.
According to Hebert, upon entering this home in the 300 block of Richmond Avenue, first responders and law enforcement made a gruesome discovery.
“They did notice a closet that was padlocked,” Hebert said. “They entered into that closet and it was infested with insects and it was filthy condition. The investigation would show that baby king was placed in that closet.”
Hebert said it appeared the little boy had suffered from severe malnutrition and had a “skeletal appearance.”
His mother Tina Louis and older sister Kirsten Louis were both questioned by Port Arthur Police charged individually with two counts of injury to a child and later booked into the Jefferson County Jail.
In probable cause affidavits, Kirsten Louis identified herself as the boy’s caretaker and said she observed his body weight decline.
She claims she brought this up to the child’s mother, but the mother told her the weight was normal due to his condition and to just feed him milk and vitamins.
The mother, Tina Louis, admitted the baby boy did not get proper health care for nine months.
Port Arthur Police are looking for a third person in connection to Dewey’s death.
“His name is Jaylin Jevon Lewis. We have two warrants for injury to a child on him. We’re working with our federal partners right now to try to locate Mr. Lewis,” Hebert said.
He confirmed two other children were at the home when police arrived and were later taken to CPS. They’re currently safe with relatives.
“I can’t even imagine the horror that this child went through. I’m just speechless,” Hebert said.
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