A 27-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to decades in prison for the tragic starvation death of his 3-month-old son, who was discovered deceased in a rural motel two years ago, appearing emaciated, according to authorities.

On Thursday, District Judge Susan N. Kelly sentenced Charles Devin Harris to 40 years in a state prison for his involvement in the death of his infant son, Jacob Jeremiah Amon Harris.

The sentencing followed Harris’s guilty plea to charges of injury to a child, child endangerment, and methamphetamine possession, reached through a plea agreement with the prosecution. In return for his plea, an additional murder charge was dismissed.

Under the terms of the sentence, Harris will serve 40 years for the injury to a child charge, alongside concurrent two-year terms for the other charges. He will become eligible for parole after completing 20 years of his sentence.

The sentence for Harris aligns with the judgment handed down by Judge Kelly earlier this year to the child’s mother, Skylynn Tuerk.

“Our office is grateful to be able to resolve the second of the two cases stemming from this child’s death without the need for a painful trial,” the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to Waco ABC affiliate KXXV. “Bringing closure to this tragic situation can hopefully set everyone affected on the path toward healing.”

As Law&Crime previously reported, the investigation into Harris and Tuerk began on Nov. 29, 2023, at the New Road Inn motel in the 4000 block of North Frontage Road in Waco, which is about 100 miles south of Dallas.

Police responding to a request for a welfare check on a child at the motel said they discovered Jacob — who has been widely referred to as “Baby JJ” in local media accounts — dead due to prolonged starvation. Officers at the scene said the infant appeared “starving” and “looking like a skeleton,” according to court records obtained by Waco-based CBS and Telemundo affiliate KWTX.

Police rescued Baby JJ’s then-3-year-old sister from the room, which they said was filthy and infested with cockroaches. There was also raw meat, knives, swords, and drugs that investigators said were easily accessible to the children.

The investigation into the family was brought on by a third party making a report about the child’s welfare to Child Protective Services.

The CPS caller expressed concerns Baby JJ had not put on enough weight since his birth and described Tuerk as “nonchalant” about the issue. Meanwhile, Harris is alleged to have been “playing video games the entire time” the other person was in the room.

Arriving the next day — and by then too late — officers described the family as living in “unclean and dangerous” conditions, noting the bladed weapons were “within the reach of the 3-year-old girl.”

There was no “real food for the children” inside the unsanitary room and “no baby formula for Jacob,” police reportedly wrote in a probable cause affidavit. The only food or drinks that appeared to be for children were juice boxes and some packages of fruit snacks.