'He Was Emaciated': Father Charged With Homicide, Child Abuse After 14-Year-Old Son Found Dead
MERCER COUNTY (KDKA) -- Officials said a father is being charged with criminal homicide and child abuse after his "emaciated" 14-year-old son was found dead inside the family's home in Mercer County.
The teenager, who weighed only 70 pounds, was discovered inside the father's residence on the 500 block of District Road, a rural part of Delaware Township.
KDKA's Lindsay Ward Reports:
"It was squalor conditions, it was in a country setting," State Police Lt. Dan Ekis said. "The victim was found just inside the trailer. It wasn't conditions that children should be living in."
Antonio Juan Gonzalez, 33, faces many charges, including criminal homicide and child abuse. A friend of the father — 29-year-old Paul Bacorn — was also charged with criminal conspiracy and endangering the welfare of a child.
"He was emaciated, so obviously, we are looking into that," Mercer County District Attorney Pete Acker said.
Police say the boy's father is the one that found him and called 911 shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday morning.
"With the charges, there is a level of abuse that led to his death," Ekis said
"We couldn't begin to understand what this child went through in 14 short years," Ekis said. "But obviously, the way he died — especially at the hands of his father — is especially disturbing."
The teen lived in the home with his father and his 4-year-old sister, police said. The boy was attending cyber school.
The little girl was taken into the care of Children and Youth Services and will be thoroughly evaluated.
Authorities said she was average weight and seemed to be in good health.
The father and his two children moved to Mercer County about a month and a half ago from Allegheny County.
State police say the children's mother died a few years ago.
KDKA's Lindsay Ward Reports:
Officials can't say for certain until an autopsy is complete, but they are not ruling out starvation as a cause of death.
Gonzalez and Bacorn are in the Mercer County Jail. They will be arraigned on Friday.
