Crime & Safety
Utah Parents Charged In Starving Daughter's Death Taunted Her With Food: Cops
Police say videos on the parents' phones appear to show the couple presenting her with food, then taking it away and disciplining her.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — Authorities say an Ogden couple charged with aggravated murder in the death of their 3-year-old daughter taunted the starving child with food and tried to conceal her injuries with makeup.
Authorities say cellphone videos showed the girl's condition progressively deteriorated over the year and a half before her "extremely malnourished" body was found at the family's home. Ogden is about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.
If convicted, Angelina Costello's mother and father could be sentenced to death. (For more Across America news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)
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Their lawyer, James Retallick, didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
The videos found on the parents' phones appear to show Brenda Emile, 22, and Miller Costello, 25, presenting their daughter with food before taking it away and disciplining her, police said in charging documents.
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Angelina was found July 6 at the family's home after her parents told police she wasn't breathing.
Her body was covered with burns, cuts and bruises, some of which looked new and others that appeared to be in various stages of healing, police said.
Emile later told police she used a layer of makeup to conceal some of her daughter's injuries "so they didn't look as bad," charges state.
Two other children were removed from the house and given to state child protective services, police said.
Officers searching the couple's cellphones later found pictures and videos taken between January 2016 and June 2017 that show the child obviously upset, police said. In one video the girl's father used the feet of an infant to kick the girl in the face, prosecutors said.
Police say Costello acknowledged he knew Angelina was in danger of dying if she didn't get medical attention, but did not take her to the doctor.
He said his wife, who cared for their children during the day, told him Angelina's siblings had injured her but Emile didn't want to take her to a doctor because she feared a police investigation and her children being taken away.
By Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Photo credit: Weber County Sheriff's Office via AP
