Starving Twins’ Mother Charged With Neglect
A mother of five has been charged with felony child neglect for failing to feed her children, including severely disabled twin daughters who were fighting for their lives Monday night.
Tonya Kaye Walker, 26, whose three other children were in good health, reportedly told investigators she could no longer afford the supplemental baby formula the 5-year-old girls needed to maintain their weight.
When the girls were found Sunday in their Ceres home by their grandfather, they weighed 12 and 16 pounds, roughly the same as a 3-month-old child, Ceres Police Sgt. Allen McKay said.
The girls, unresponsive and wearing diapers, had multiple bedsores and were covered with dried fecal matter. Insects were crawling in and out of their ears.
They were transferred to Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where they were in extremely critical but stable condition Monday night.
The girls have cerebral palsy and other disabilities.
Walker was being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
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