An autopsy report for a 7-year-old Oklahoma girl who died in August reveals that the girl, who weighed less than 30 pounds at the time of her death, swallowed a baby bottle top, leading to her death.
According to the autopsy report, the bottle lid blocked Violet Mitchell’s small intestine, causing a “failure to thrive” situation, KOCO reported. The girl also had a bacterial infection and injuries to her cheek, shoulder, and leg.
Violet Mitchell’s mother, Lisa Mitchell, and her boyfriend, Anthony Yonko, were arrested on charges of child neglect and aggravated abuse after the obviously malnourished child was brought to Saint Anthony’s Midwest Hospital on August 2 wrapped in a blanket and already in rigor mortis, as CrimeOnline reported.
Yonko reportedly told police that the girl was completely health a few days earlier and had lost 25 pounds in less than a week.
But police said he changed his story multiple times. At first, he said only he and Mitchell were at the apartment, but later he said Mitchell’s sister, her boyfriend, and two or three other children were there. He also said the child had the flu and the family came to the hospital because she wasn’t moving.
Yonko and Mitchell were later charged with murder, along with his brother, David Yonko, and Mitchell’s sister, Tiffany Mitchell.
The autopsy report said that the 7-year-old girl was wearing a diaper for a 3-year-old when she was brought to the hospital and had sunken eyes and weighed 29 pounds — “essentially skin and bones.” The medical examiner said they could not determine if the baby bottle top the girl swallowed was “accidental or intentional.”
A cousin told investigators that the girl’s mother frequently “tied her up with strings/zip ties” and often “hit her with a broom,” KOCO reported. The cousin also said that the girl’s parents glued the child’s mouth shut and that she would try to “dig glue out of her mouth” when possible.
The court documents say the girl was frequently tied to a crib and could not walk or feed herself.
Lisa Mitchell and Anthony Yonko are being held without bond. Tiffany Mitchell was given a $5 million bond, and David Yonko is held on a $1 million bond, according to jail records.
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[Featured image: Lisa Mitchell, Anthony Yonko, David Yonko, and Tiffany Mitchell/Midwest City Jail]
