Woman jailed for locking away and starving son, 12, in faeces-covered bathroom

A Utah woman who starved her 12-year-old son by locking him in a bathroom for a year has been sentenced to up to 45 years in prison.

Brandy K Jaynes, 36, of Tocquerville, Utah, pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree child abuse last month after her estranged husband found the boy in January and brought him to a local hospital.

The child, who had special educational needs, was found to be living in a bathroom covered in faeces and filled with discarded food packaging. A lock on the door was, according to the prosecution, “set up for confinement specifically,” with an alarm system fitted. A baby monitor system had been set up to send a live feed of video of the confined boy to Jaynes’s laptop and mobile phone.

Still images from the feed showed the boy in what the prosecution called “extreme distress and hopelessness,” with the only surface in the room not covered in faeces the small area he slept in.

A victim impact statement was read in court saying that for the months before his rescue the boy would get one meal – some hot dogs – every other day. “I felt frozen when I was drenched with ice cold water in the winter,” the letter went on. There was evidence of additional psychological abuse.

According to the doctor who treated the child on his rescue, he weighed only 33 pounds when admitted to hospital, nearer to the normal weight for a two-year-old, and was “well below” average height for his age.

Further symptoms included liver damage consistent with malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, peeling skin, and pressure sores from lying in the same position for extended periods of time.

Although the victim’s statement expressed hope that he would see his mother again, she was sentenced to three consecutive prison terms of one to fifteen years on Monday.

After an investigation, the boy’s father – Russel Jaynes, 40 - was charged with third-degree felony reckless child abuse for not intervening sooner. The family’s two other children told investigators the boy had been in the bathroom for at least a year, with the father claiming he had not noticed his son's plight as he was often away working and was lied to by his wife when he was at home.

The boy’s ordeal came at the end of a years-long spiral for his mother, with defence attorney Edward Flint alleging that spousal abuse led to a breakdown.

Jaynes took her son out of school in 2012 to educate him at home, but the attempt ended in failure.

Instead of seeking help, she began to confine her son – despite the presence in the home of two other children.

Jaynes declined to address the court, but a letter from her was read at a pre-sentencing hearing.

“I never meant for this to happen,” she wrote. “[My son] has had problems from the day he was born, problems that got worse and worse, and I screwed up by not getting help. I hurt him by not getting help. And for this I am very sorry.”

During the final four months of the boy’s confinement, Jaynes developed addictions to heroin and methamphetamine; she claims it was only after detoxifying in jail that she understood the gravity of her actions.

“Yes, I am guilty and I am accountable for my actions,” she wrote. “I should have gotten help and by not doing so I hurt someone that I love with all my heart.”

The boy has now gained weight to a healthy level, but may never walk normally again.

“It’s extraordinary this victim survived this,” said Deputy County Attorney Angie Reddish-Day.

Russell Jaynes is due back in court on 19 September.