3 Accused Of Starving Infants, Killing 1 In Gloucester Twp.

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — Two adults and a teenager are accused of starving a pair of two-month-old twins, one of whom died, authorities announced on Monday.

Joy Wilson, 36; Sharode Snell, 22; and an unidentified 17-year-old have been charged with one count of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of second-degree aggravated assault in the death of a child who starved to death last year, according to Acting Camden County Prosecutor Jill S. Mayer and Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins.

Police said the child and her twin sister were consistently fed rice mixed with water, despite being told that was insufficient, and that the parents spent the money on junk food for themselves and a $135 cell phone for the mother instead of buying formula.

“This is one of those tragic cases that you can hardly believe when you learn the suffering these two babies went through, ultimately leading to one of their deaths,” Mayer said. “While we are deeply saddened that one of the babies died as a result of this abuse, we are grateful that her twin sister was able to be treated and is now thriving and safe. The lengthy and meticulous investigation in this matter was of paramount importance to everyone who took part in it-, from the CCPO detectives, assistant prosecutors, and victim advocates to the Gloucester Township detectives, to the doctors at the New Jersey CARES Institute, to the Camden County Medical Examiner’s Office. Each agency worked tirelessly to bring about some measure of justice for these babies.”

Police were called to the La Cascata Apartments in Gloucester Township at about 7:55 a.m. on July 31, 2019, for a report of an unresponsive infant, according to authorities.

Officers met with Snell, the child’s father, who was holding the baby at the time. They learned that Wilson was the legal guardian of both the child and her twin sister, and they lived in her house with their parents. The mother is not identified by name in the affidavit of probable cause that was provided by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

The infant was taken to a hospital and pronounced deceased at 8:29 a.m., authorities said. During an initial interview with the child’s parents at the hospital, the parents claimed the twins would drink between four and six ounces of formula a day, according to authorities. They also said they had recently added rice to the formula.

However, detectives who were searching the home found no baby food or formula in the home, authorities said. Wilson returned to the home, at which point officers deduced that she had left the home to get food for the other twin after the first child had been taken to the hospital, authorities said.

During the autopsy, Dr. Gerald Feigin of the Gloucester-Camden-Salem County Medical Examiner’s Office observed that the child had no food in her stomach and no fat on her body, according to authorities. He sent liver samples to be analyzed for the possibility of a genetic disorder, authorities said.

Later that night, the other child was hospitalized because she was vomiting, according to authorities. The doctor said she was severely malnourished and had dropped from the 16th percentile at birth to less than 1 percentile two months later, according to authorities. He also noticed multiple healing and acute rib fractures, according to authorities.

After a week in the hospital, the child gained about 90 grams a day, whereas the normal child gained 20 grams a day, according to authorities. In the ensuing months, she would reach the 35th to 57th percentile in weight.

Due to her initial malnourished state, the doctor said he believed the parents’ story about how often they fed their children was not plausible, according to authorities. This coupled with the results of additional testing led authorities to believe the child had starved to death, and the death was ultimately ruled a homicide, authorities said.

During the course of the investigation, the parents told detectives that they sometimes ran out of food at the house, but only for a couple of hours at a time while someone went to the store, according to authorities.

Snell later claimed he had fed the child four times between 7:30 p.m. and 2 a.m., but then admitted he hadn’t fed her because there was no food in the house, according to authorities.

He said there had been no food in the house for a week, so they had been feeding the children rice mixed with water, according to authorities. He admitted that he couldn’t remember the last time he fed the child, but had bought the mother a new cell phone for $135, authorities said.

Detectives then interviewed a 10-year-old who also lived in the home and said she would help feed the twins because the parents kept feeding them rice and water, even though they were told that was insufficient, authorities said.

Snell preferred rice mixed with water because the children would throw up after eating formula, which detectives said they learned was never kept in the house. Another child told detectives the parents spent money on junk food for themselves, but not on formula, and that there had been no food in the home for three or four days.

Wilson told detectives she had also told the parents not to feed the children water and rice, and that she couldn’t remember the last time the children ate, according to authorities.

Wilson was arrested in connection with the child’s death on Nov. 19, authorities said. She was taken to the Camden County Correctional Facility, and is awaiting a pre-trial detention hearing.

Snell and the 17-year-old teen, also of Lindenwold, were both arrested in North Carolina by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force on Monday. They are in custody in North Carolina awaiting further court proceedings.