Parents accused of severe neglect after their 1-year-old daughter dies weighing just 8 pounds

A Texas couple is accused of starving to death their 1-year-old daughter, who weighed just 8 pounds when she passed away.

On June 18, authorities in Wichita County served two warrants and took into custody Christian Miguel Bishop-Torrence, 24, and Sage Angel Rose Wright, 22, KJTL reported.

Online jail records show each faces a charge of causing serious bodily injury to a child.

According to the warrants, the baby’s dad allegedly told detectives he had noticed the girl had been losing weight for several months but he and his wife never took her to the doctor.

On June 11, the warrant states, Bishop-Torrance rushed his daughter to United Regional Hospital after the baby began struggling to breathe — gasping for air and making a rattling noise when she exhaled. Efforts to save the girl’s life were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead.

The baby allegedly had several blisters on her buttocks and lower back as well as dirt caked on her skin. The malnourished child’s weight — 8 pounds, 8 ounces — was around a third of the 22- to 24-pound range that’s average for a toddler of the same age, The Times Record News reported, citing a doctor’s statement to detectives.

In a forensic evaluation of the baby’s death, Dr. Suzanne Dakil, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, wrote in her report that the baby probably was not suffering from an undiagnosed medical condition.

“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,” Dakil noted.

She added that “if there had been a medical problem, the victim had likely been wasting away for several months and medical care was never sought.”

The autopsy found the child’s physical issues were consistent with neglect, according to The Times Record.

Hospital records reportedly showed the baby missed her 2, 6, 9 and 12-month well-child checks.

Wright, the mother, allegedly admitted she and her husband never took the little girl in for medical care and she had trouble bonding with the baby as much as she had with her two other children, the arrest warrant states.

Both the father and mother are each being held on $500,000 bond at the Wichita County jail.