A seven-year-old girl who was described as “essentially skin and bones” was fed chicken nuggets by her neighbour before her monster parents “glued her mouth shut” and left her to die.
Violet Mitchell died at St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Oklahoma on August 2 days after a neighbour tried to help the girl who was “extremely malnourished” with “sunken eyes”. “I took her [in] because she was hungry,” neighbour Tera Day said. “I fed her chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes and carrots.”
Day said the girl didn’t say anything about her parents other than that they “loved her”. She added: “That’s all she said and she cried, and I took her back home,”
Violet’s autopsy report was recently published and established her death was due to a “failure to thrive” after a plastic baby bottle was found to be blocking her small intestine. The seven-year-old weighed 29 pounds and was found “wearing a diaper that was otherwise sized for a three-year-old,” doctors revealed, as per documents obtained by KOCO.
The little girl also had a bacterial infection and injuries to her shoulder, left leg and cheek, and had a “pale green” colour on her stomach. Lisa Mitchell, the girl’s mum, and Anthony Yonko, the mother’s boyfriend, were arrested on child neglect and aggravated abuse charges.
A member of Violet’s family are said to have called police shortly after doctors pronounced her dead, with the caller saying that Yonko’s brother David and Mitchell’s sister Tiffany were overheard admitting that they knew Violet was dead before being taken to the hospital.
The arrest document further revealed that Violet’s seven-year-old cousin told police she knew Violet died in a crib where her arms and legs were continually bound with strings. The girl added her cousin was only fed bread and that Violet’s mum “spilled hot soup on [her], on her face and arms,” reads the affidavit. She further revealed Mitchell would beat her daughter with a broomstick and also glued her mouth shut, leaving Violet in her crib for anywhere up to a month.
The young cousin said she would take Violet and run out of the home, but the parents would take her back and tie her up. David, Anthony’s brother, and Lisa’s sister Tiffany were also arrested when police found they knew about the abuse but didn’t report it to police.
Violet’s parents and Tiffany are now being held on a $5million bond, with David on a $1million bond. The girl’s parents have pleaded not guilty after telling cops they thought Violet had the flu when they brought her to the hospital.
The pair’s other children have now been taken into the care of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, according to KOCO. Mitchell is due to appear in court on November 27.
