http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/12/....ap/index.html
I am just tooo sad right now. This little girl looks like one of my former students as a child.
EXCERPT:
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- An 11-year-old girl's parents tied her up in the garage, starved the child and beat her with an umbrella until she died during the Thanksgiving holiday, police said.
The sixth-grader tried to escape her home in Stockbridge just south of Atlanta, but she was only punished more severely -- she was left without food, water, a bathroom or a bed, police said.
The girl's father, 37-year-old Rodney Michael Reaves, and her stepmother, 38-year-old Charlott Lynett Reaves, were arrested Monday and charged with felony murder and cruelty to children.
The girl, Joella Reaves, was beaten over her entire body with an umbrella and paddle for several days, according to the arrest warrant. Her cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma.
"When she attempted to escape, she was hogtied. She was left with no food or water or sanitary or sleeping necessities," the warrant said.