Pa. Couple Ordered To Stand Trial For Child's Starvation Death
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania couple has been ordered to stand trial on criminal homicide charges in the starvation death of their 9-year-old son.
A Dauphin County judge announced the decision after a two-hour preliminary hearing Thursday at the jail where Kimberly and Jarrod Tutko Sr. are held without bail.
Police who found Jarrod Tutko Jr.'s decomposing body on Aug. 1 say the boy lived in a locked, feces-smeared room on the third floor of the family's Harrisburg home.
An autopsy showed he died of malnutrition and neglect and weighed less than 17 pounds.
Authorities say the child suffered from several painful conditions and spent his early years between foster care and his parents' custody.
Kimberly Tutko told police they collected $710 a month each in disability payments and that neither parent worked.
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