The Pennsylvania grandparents of a 6-year-old girl found dead wearing a soiled diaper in a hot room she’d allegedly been locked inside for days have been charged with homicide.
Jazmine Rodriguez, 44, and Manuel Rodriguez, Sr., 46, were arrested Monday after police were notified of an unidentified child going into cardiac arrest in a Reading, Pa., home, according to NBC News in Philadelphia.
When they arrived, authorities reportedly discovered the 6-year-old girl dead in the hot, humid room. She was found wearing a days-old soiled diaper and had severe diaper rash.
An autopsy later found the girl died of dehydration and prolonged exposure to temperatures that may have reached over 100 degrees. It’s not known when the child died, but officials believe she had been deceased for several days.
In addition to homicide, the grandparents have been charged unlawful restraint and false imprisonment. Police are still seeking the victim’s 20-year-old uncle, Manuel Rodriguez Jr., in connection with the case, reported Philadelphia’s ABC 6.
School records reportedly indicate the girl attended classes for part of the 2022-23 school year, but was not a student last year.
Berks County prosecutor John Adams was at a loss for words over the conditions in which the victim died.
“There is just not words that I can use to describe the abuse that took place here,” he said, according to local station WFMZ.
Reading is located roughly 60 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
