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Woman convicted of starving five-year-old son and locking him under stairs


WARNING – DISTRESSING IMAGES: A woman who abused and starved her young stepson, almost to death, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison.

Jordan Belimeyer, who was five at the time, weighed only 13 kilograms when he was discovered in 2015.

Tammi Bleimeyer starved her stepson and forced him to live in a crawl space under the stairs. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office
Tammi Bleimeyer starved her stepson and forced him to live in a crawl space under the stairs. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office

Doctors alleged he had been starved for months, comparing his tiny frame “to that of a Holocaust survivor,” Assistant District Attorney Stephen Driver said.

Tammi Bleimeyer, 38, was last week found guilty of serious body injury to a child. The boy’s father, Bradley Bleimeyer, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars for the same charge in 2016.

In a press release, prosecutors released disturbing details about Jordan’s mistreatment, detailing how he was kept in a nappy and “was often given only a slice of bread to eat and that was snatched away from him if he took too long to eat it”.

Jordan (pictured in 2015) weighing only 13kg at the time he was found. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office
Jordan (pictured in 2015) weighing only 13kg at the time he was found. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office
The boy’s level of malnourishment was consistent with a Holocaust survivor, doctors said. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office
The boy’s level of malnourishment was consistent with a Holocaust survivor, doctors said. Source: Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office

He was also forced to sleep under the stairs in an unfinished crawl space, surrounded by exposed nails and wiring, and was only rescued when his then 16-year-old brother told police about the abuse in 2014.

Jordan, now nine, is living with his mother but his growth has been permanently stunted, Ebony Fleming of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office told ABC News.