Emergency Doctors Say 3-Year-Old Bartow Boy Hadn't Been Cared For In Months Before He Died

BARTOW, FL — Calling it the most "tragically and horrifically sad" cases he's seen in his five decades as a law enforcement officer, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced the arrest of Bartow parents for allowing their disabled 3-year-old son to "rot and die in his bed."

Judd said Takesha Williams, 24, and Efrem Allen, 25, were initially arrested on charges of negligent child abuse causing great harm on May 13. However, on Friday, the 10th Judicial Circuit Court upgraded their charges to aggravated manslaughter of a child. Williams and Allen are being held in the Polk County Jail on $100,000 bail each.

Meanwhile, Judd said the Bartow police officers, rescue workers and Polk County sheriff's detectives have been traumatized by what they witnessed after responding to a call at the Azalea Garden Apartments, 1050 Golfview Ave., on May 12.

In July 2020, Williams and Allen were living in a short-term rental in Davenport when their 10-month-old baby wandered away and fell into a swimming pool.

Paramedics attempted to revive him but, by the time they reached the hospital, the baby had no brain activity and was in a coma from which doctors said he'd never recover. They recommended to Williams and Allen that the child be removed from life support.

However, the parents refused. Instead, they brought him home on a ventilator, with a stomach tube for nourishment, and the state provided home health care nurses to care for him at no cost to the couple. Additionally, Williams received state benefits to stay home and care for her child.

In October, the parents suddenly refused to allow the home health care nurses to continue caring for the child. When the nurses arrived at their apartment, they either refused to allow them to enter or pretended they weren't home, said Judd.

Then, on May 12, Williams called 911 to report that her son's pulsimeter used to measure the pulse rate wasn't working properly and asked for fire rescue to assist her.

"When they arrived, they saw this child hooked up to a ventilator but appeared to have no life," said Judd. "The child's stomach was extremely extended, and it was green." Rescue workers said there was a distinct odor of decomposition in the bedroom where the child lay.

They rushed the 3-year-old to the hospital where emergency doctors attempted to save his life. However, their efforts failed, and it soon became apparent why, said Judd. When they removed the child's clothes and diapers, they found that his body was riddled with large ulcers. The same odor of decomposition the rescue workers noticed in the bedroom emanated from the child.

"There was no rectum, just a big gaping hole where the intestines and spinal cord were visible," said Judd.

The emergency room doctor said it was obvious the child hadn't been cared for in months and the medical examiner said he had sepsis, bilateral pneumonia and Stage 5 ulcers, Judd said.

Having never encountered such a severe case of abuse, Judd said Bartow police called in Polk sheriff's detectives to aid with the investigation but Judd said even his own seasoned detectives were unprepared for the sight.

"You can't even imagine how horrible the wounds, the ulcers were that this child endured," he said. "I've done this for five decades. I have seen thousands of children abused, hundreds of children murdered at the hands of parents but I have never seen the horror that we saw with this poor child at the hands of these two folks."

When detectives questioned the parents, Williams and Allen claimed they attempted to obtain home health aid for their son but were refused. And they said they didn't want to report the child's condition because they were afraid the Florida Department of Children and Families would remove their other two children, ages 2 years old and 10 months old, from the home.

The home health care agency, however, told detectives that the nurses repeatedly went to the apartment to care for the child but were denied entry.

"This is just supposition on my part, but they (the parents) just got tired of the baby," Judd said during a news conference Friday. "They just got tired of the intensive care and, as a result, the child laid there and suffered and suffered and suffered until there was finally no life left in the baby."

Judd said Polk County State Attorney Brian Haas will be seeking the maximum sentence but the sheriff said no amount of jail can make up for "the torture this child endured."

"You would think it would be impossible for any parent to do this. I've seen some really bad stuff in my career, and I've never seen anything like this," Judd said. "My prayer would be that this child was in a deep enough state that he wasn't aware of what was happening to him."

Judd said the couple's other two children are in good health.