Child in Upscale Home Dies of Hunger; Parents Charged

Two-year-old Jeffrey Mitchell starved to death in an apartment whose kitchen was virtually empty despite the nice furnishings in the living room, and his gaunt parents are charged with murder and wanton endangerment, authorities said Thursday.

“You saw his distended stomach and bones and that was it,” said Tim Kaltenbach, the county prosecutor. “It was like something out of the Third World.”

Investigators say the family went days at a time without eating, yet the parents had enough money to keep paying the premiums on their children’s life insurance and lived in an immaculate apartment in one of the better neighborhoods of this western Kentucky city of 27,000.

Police investigating the death found nice furniture, a VCR, a stereo and golf clubs in the living room. But in the kitchen they found little more than a bottle of cooking oil, a spice rack and trays of ice cubes.

Investigators were at a loss to explain why it happened. They were investigating the father’s claim that he had lost his job and had fallen into debt.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Detective Bruce Watson, father of three sons. “We had a lot of grown men crying after what they had seen. This kind of thing is not supposed to happen in the United States.”

Billy Gene Mitchell, 45, and his wife, Susan R. Mitchell, 37, pleaded not guilty Wednesday. Bail was set at more than $1 million apiece. The couple, both unemployed, said they couldn’t afford lawyers.

Disgusted detectives found two surviving siblings, ages 3 and 6, also suffering from malnutrition. Jeffrey’s 3-year-old sister, Melanie, weighed less than 17 pounds and couldn’t hold her head up without help. It appears the child had nothing but water for the last week, police said.

Six-year-old Billie, weighing 28 pounds, fared best because she had been eating breakfast and lunch at Lone Oak Elementary.

Billy Gene Mitchell, who retired from the Air Force as a technical sergeant in 1994, told police that he didn’t know where to turn for help and that welfare agencies told him last year that his pension, $1,400 a month, disqualified him for food stamps or other benefits.

But state records show Mitchell never applied for food stamps or other help, welfare agency spokeswoman Margaret Harney said. She said a cursory review shows the family would have qualified for at least $98 per month in food stamps, plus help under other programs.