In a horrific incident, four people including two women have been Arrested for starving a 9-year-old Indiana boy with cerebral palsy to death. The victim weighed only 15lbs before his death.
The Sheriff was furious about the incident
Vigo County Sheriff's Office said that his officers arrived when called about a child with cardiac arrest at 4 a.m in the morning. After that, the young victim, Cameron Hoopingarner was rushed to a nearby hospital. However, he was pronounced dead. Sheriff Greg Ewing while describing the case 'beyond terrible' said that the victim weighed about 15lbs which is the average weight of a 3-month-old baby.
Since the cause of death was severe malnutrition, the incident was termed a homicide.
Ewing, who has a 9-year-old child of his own was horrified to see the state on the victim. He said that the child's condition reminded him of the Holocaust. He never encountered such a case in his 26 years as a law enforcement officer. The Sheriff said that it makes him mad that anyone could do such a thing with a blind and physically disabled child. "What kind of animals are they?", he added.
The suspects
The state police arrested four people regarding the case - Robin Lee Kraemer, 53, and Hubert Kraemer, 56, Sarah Beth Travioli, 30, and Chad Kraemer, 33. They were charged with the neglect of a dependent resulting in death.
None of those arrested were related to the victim biologically. However, 2 of them were legal Guardians of the child. All four suspects were unemployed and had no source of income.
Chad Kraemer and Sarah Travioli have two children of their own, a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. As per photos shared on their Facebook profiles, their own children appear to be well fed and healthy.Thus, there was no reason for any financial issue preventing them from feeding Hoopingarner.The suspects have been held on a bond of $250,000 pending their hearing in the preliminary court.Hoopingarner was under the care of Hubert and Robin Kraemer since he was three days old. He was bedridden and blind. He never attended school.
