In a tragic case out of Florida, a 68-year-old woman has been sentenced to prison after the appalling neglect and starvation of her elderly mother. The victim, 88-year-old Frances Hildegard King, was found in such dire condition that medical personnel likened her state to that of individuals who suffered in World War II concentration camps.

Kim Zaheer, convicted for her role in the 2018 death of her mother, has been sentenced by Seventh Judicial Circuit Judge Dawn D. Nichols to six years in a state correctional facility. Due to time already served, Zaheer will spend just over a year in detention. After her release, she will be on probation for an additional 10 years.

The court’s decision to reduce the sentence from the guideline of over 11 years was influenced by both the nature of the case and Zaheer’s own health issues, leading the state attorney’s office to exercise leniency. Zaheer had entered a no contest plea to a charge of aggravated manslaughter this past September.

This heartbreaking case unfolded on December 5, 2018, when Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at a residence following reports of an unresponsive elderly woman. They encountered a distressing scene: King was found lifeless, extremely malnourished, and exhibiting signs of rigor mortis. The conditions were deplorable, with both the deceased and her clothing covered in fecal matter and rat droppings. King was discovered in a bed, wearing what was described as a garbage bag used as a makeshift diaper, according to the affidavit.

At about 11:46 a.m. on Dec. 5, 2018, deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call regarding an unresponsive elderly female, later identified as King. Upon arriving, first responders walked into a grisly scene, describing King as “cold to the touch,” “very malnourished,” and showing “signs of apparent rigor mortis.” She and her clothing were both covered in fecal matter, including rat droppings on and beneath the body, and she was found dead in a bed “clothed in [a] garbage bag for a diaper,” the charging affidavit said.

The conditions of the home were said to be “extremely bad,” with police writing that the home “was dirty and the odor was unbearable.”

The medical examiner’s notes stated that King’s “eyes appeared to have dehydrated back [into] her head” and the funeral home’s body removal personnel told investigators that she had “never observed someone in the same or similar condition” to King’s. The body removal specialist also stated that King’s condition “resembled the condition of prisoners in a concentration camp,” and the medical examiner agreed.

The medical examiner determined that King’s cause of death was “severe emaciation” and emphysematous cystitis, a rare infection of the bladder wall most commonly caused by E. coli.

During the sentencing hearing, Nichols repeatedly referred to a photo of King taken immediately after her death, when she weighed a mere 53 pounds, Flagler Live reported. The judge called the photo “devastating” and “truly horrific,” adding that the picture of King “says it all.”