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Tipton woman charged with starving 5-year-old speaks out

Posted at 11:28 PM, Jun 16, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-16 23:28:50-04

TIPTON, Ind. – The woman accused of starving a 5-year-old boy in Tipton as a form of punishment believes she does not deserve to be locked in jail as there were already problems in the home before she arrived.

Ashleigh Peach, 30, and her fiancé Johnathan Parsley, were taken in by Tipton police after one of the children living in their home was found weighing just 32 pounds. Both Peach and Parsley were charged with neglect of a dependent.

Police said they received a tip that the couple was starving one of the children. On June 6, investigators went to the house and court documents described the boy in question as looking like a “skeleton.”

"I mean he was skinny, but he's always been, since I've known him for the six months he's been really skinny,” said Peach. "It's not my kid. I didn't make him like this. He didn't come from me like this. He came to me like this.”

The 5-year-old is Parsley’s child and in all, seven children were living in the home. Peach denies withholding food from the child and said she doesn’t know why he did not gain weight.

"He ate every meal all the time. He ate a significant amount of food. I'm not even exaggerating. He really did. He ate a lot of food,” she said.

Peach also said the child saw a therapist weekly and that her and Parsley were trying to get him to see a doctor.

 

The 5-year-old stayed in the hospital for eight days before he was released. 

PREVIOUSTwo people charged with starving, confining 5-year-old Tipton boy as punishment