Parents locked 6-year-old daughter in a dog cage, beat and starved her: cops

A Pennsylvania couple allegedly beat their 6-year-old daughter, starved her for days on end and kept her zip-tied and locked in a dog crate at night, authorities said.

Jacob William Weight Sr., 37, and Mimi Ann Frost, 33, were arrested last week following an “extensive investigation” that began when Pennsylvania State Police troopers were first sent to the couple’s Brownsville Borough home on January 7, officials announced.

Weight had called 911 that day, reporting that his young daughter went limp and suffered an apparent seizure when one of the other five children in the house tried to bathe her.

When police later arrived on the scene, they found the suburban home in “deplorable condition,” with feces smeared on the ground, an emanating smell of urine and trash strewn about.

The couple’s nephew, who lived in the house along with their children, then told officials the girl had been locked in a dog crate every night and forced to eat dog food.

Investigators found evidence suggesting the girl was “unable to get out of the cage” and was “punished” any time she did get out to find food, Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told KDKA.

“For lack of a better way to put it, she had been tortured in that house,” he said.

Weight did not allow first responders into the house, and instead marched the young girl out himself, the district attorney noted.

She was covered in open sores and extensive bruises, and appeared to have been malnourished, KDKA reports.

When she arrived at Uniontown Hospital,  she was found to be hypothermic, with a body temperature registering at only 88.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

The girl also reportedly had broken and rotted teeth, swollen feet and had not appeared to have received pediatric care in more than three years, according to a medical report obtained by the Observer-Reporter.

Police also noted in an arrest report that the doctors at the hospital “stated multiple times… that she could have died as a result of this egregious abuse and neglect, and if she returns to her current environment, she is likely to die of abuse and neglect.”

During the ensuing investigation, police said Weight and Frost’s nephew described how the young girl’s mother would zip-tie her hands and feet, lock her in the cage naked and refuse to wash her.

The teenager said the floor underneath the dog crate was deteriorating because the child’s feces and urine were never cleaned.

Another child inside the home told officers the couple wanted the girl to eat her own waste, according to WTAE.

She was never enrolled in school, but once told a therapist she was forced to eat dog food and sleep in the crate every night.

She also said her father once shot her in the legs with a BB gun, and told police her parents “busted my head open a couple times with a lighter,” according to court documents obtained by the Observer-Reporter.

Making matters worse for the young girl, Aubele said investigators found evidence that “at least a few” of the other children participated in the abuse.

He suggested it is possible some of the children, who range in age from 5 to 17, could also face charges.

“It does seem like they were raised with the notion that this… girl… deserved it,” he told WTAE.

Police are still trying to figure out what led the parents to abuse the young girl and not the other children in the home, Aubele said, calling their actions “incredibly callous.”

“The child was tortured and we don’t really understand why,” he said.

“What her parents did to her was absolutely horrible,” Aubele added to KDKA. “It’s amazing that a parent could ever treat a child this way.”

Weight and Frost are now charged with aggravated assault, corruption of minors, strangulation, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault.

Seven of their pit bulls were taken to Animal Control on Friday, and all of the children were also removed from the home.

The couple’s children had previously been taken away by Children and Youth Services at least once before, according to Weight’s brother, Rodney.

“Listen, he did that to his kids,” Rodney told KDKA, saying he loves his brother to death.

“Him and his wife deserve what they get. They’ll answer to a jury about this.”

But Weight insists he is innocent, claiming he never locked his daughter in the crate. 

Both he and Frost have been denied bail, according to jail records, and are due back in court on Feb. 20.