From left: Angela Mittlestadt, according to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office; Laramie County Fire District Chief Darrick Mittlestadt; and Darrick Mittlestadt, according to the LCSO.
A Wyoming fire chief allegedly starved his 13-year-old adopted son until the boy became “wafer thin” and “severely malnourished,” weighing just 54 pounds and appearing like a “concentration camp survivor,” a doctor testified during the father’s trial this week.
Dr. Andy Sirotnak, a physician specializing in child abuse, testified Tuesday—the first day of Darrick Mittlestadt’s trial—about the boy’s condition after he was hospitalized in June 2025.
“No muscle to the bone,” Sirotnak said, according to Cowboy State Daily.
When the boy was admitted, Sirotnak said, doctors diagnosed him with cachexia—a complex metabolic syndrome involving the progressive, involuntary loss of body mass, including muscle and fat. The doctor testified that the teenager looked “extremely ill” and resembled a “concentration camp survivor,” Cowboy State Daily reported.
“Common sense would tell you that if you saw a child or patient who looked like this, they needed care,” Sirotnak testified.
Darrick Mittlestadt, then chief of Laramie County Fire District No. 1, and his wife, Angela Mittlestadt, were both charged with aggravated child abuse and conspiracy in connection with the alleged mistreatment of the 13-year-old.
Angela Mittlestadt, 49, pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse under a deal expected to result in a 15- to 17-year prison sentence. She had faced a possible sentence of up to 25 years.
Cowboy State Daily reported that Angela Mittlestadt is expected to testify in her husband’s trial.
The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office previously told Law&Crime that the Mittlestadts took the boy into their home six years ago.
Angela Mittlestadt allegedly described the boy to an investigator as a “F—ed up kid with trauma.” She also reportedly said, “I’m an idiot and thought I could help him,” according to LCSO officials.
An arrest affidavit obtained by the Cowboy State Daily and Wyoming News Now alleged that the couple withheld food because of the boy’s behavior. According to the affidavit, the teenager told investigators he received crackers and protein shakes as rewards and that his bedroom door had been blocked for about two years.
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“I’m only allowed to eat one meal a day since there’s no point in giving me food,” the teenager reportedly told a police officer, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit alleged that the boy’s ribs, collarbones and “other bones and joints” were visibly protruding because of his extreme thinness. He was also reportedly missing “much of the hair on his head.”
According to police, Angela Mittlestadt told investigators that her husband frequently worked and that caring for the 13-year-old and another younger child in the home had become “overwhelming.” Authorities said Darrick Mittlestadt accepted significant responsibility for the boy’s condition during police interviews.
“I failed everyone, because I didn’t do my job,” Darrick Mittlestadt allegedly said.
In June 2025, Angela Mittlestadt allegedly dropped the teenager at a Youth Development Center in Douglas and instructed him to tell a representative that he “needed somewhere to live,” according to the affidavit. When asked why, the boy reportedly said he “wasn’t very nice” and had done things he should not have, including wetting the bed and picking at himself.
The boy, who is originally from Colorado, was taken to Colorado Children’s Hospital for treatment on June 24, 2025, police said. He weighed only 54 pounds. Pediatricians determined that the malnutrition had been ongoing and was accompanied by arrested bone growth and joint development.
According to local radio station KGAB, the victim testified Tuesday that he was confined to a bedroom throughout the day, where he lived in complete darkness.
“I didn’t think I was supposed to turn it on,” he said of the ceiling light fixture.
The boy told the court he was fed “one to three times a day,” according to KGAB, “sometimes peanut butter sandwiches or PB&J sandwiches.” Other times, he said he had ham sandwiches or “what they ate,” KGAB reports.
The Laramie County Fire District No. 1 has not responded to Law&Crime’s requests for comment.
The post Little boy who wouldn’t stop ‘picking at himself’ was starved by fire chief and wife until he resembled ‘concentration camp survivor’: Doctor first appeared on Law & Crime.
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