Parents of 1-year-old girl who weighed 8 pounds when she died charged with capital murder

A Texas couple whose 1-year-old daughter weighed was severely underweight when she died last June now face capital murder charges, officials said.

Christian Miguel Bishop-Torrence, 24, and 22-year-old Sage Angel Rose Wright of Wichita Falls were indicted last month on three counts of child neglect and endangerment.

As FrontPageDetectives previously reported, on June 11, the baby was struggling to breathe and Bishop-Torrence rushed her to the hospital, where she passed away.

According to authorities, the little girl was covered in dirt, had blisters on her back and bottom, and weighed just eight pounds — or about a third of the normal weight for her age, which is 22 to 24 pounds.

An autopsy showed the issues leading to the child’s death were consistent with neglect, and Bishop-Torrence and Wright were arrested on June 18.

Wright, who has two other children, claimed at the time she and her daughter had trouble bonding with each other. Both parents also allegedly said they noticed the baby had been losing weight for around five months before she died but never sought medical treatment, police said.

According to records, the baby was never brought to her 2, 6, 9 and 12-month well-child checks.

“Even though a small chance exists that a genetic or metabolic problem could cause weight loss, normal newborn screens and the lack of family history would make this highly unlikely,” Dr. Suzanne Dakil, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, wrote in a report after she forensically assessed the case.