Police Report: Couple Accused of Severely Neglecting 9-Year-Old Child Who Weighed Only 30 Pounds

A 32-year-old woman in Ohio and her 34-year-old live-in boyfriend have been arrested for allegedly starving and abusing three young children, including a 9-year-old boy who was hospitalized in critical condition weighing only 30 pounds with a core body temperature less than 80 degrees.

Angel Holland, who has been the 9-year-old”s custodian since 2020, and Aaron Stalling were taken into custody on Tuesday and are facing three counts each of felonious assault and endangering the safety of children, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.

Officers with the Elmwood Place Police Department at about 5 p.m. on Sept. 13 responded to a home in the 5600 block of Helen Street regarding an unresponsive juvenile male, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Upon arriving at the address, first responders located the boy and provided lifesaving measures, resuscitating the child at the scene before transporting him via ambulance to Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

The 911 call was placed by Stalling, who sounds casual as he describes the situation to the emergency dispatcher.

“My child isn’t breathing or he’s having a hard time breathing,” he calmly states in a recording of the call obtained by Cincinnati Fox affiliate WXIX.

Asked if he was breathing or not, Stalling replies, “He’s breathing heavily — he seems to be really weak.”

Stalling then continues using a casual tone when responding to the dispatcher’s question about how long the boy had been in such a state.

“I don’t know, maybe 5 minutes. I heard him breathing. It’s kind of labored, so I went to check on him. He seems out of it….it’s like he’s not breathing, I don’t know.”

Doctors at Cincinnati Children’s told authorities that the 9-year-old was severely malnourished and had a life-threateningly low body temperature, Cincinnati CBS affiliate WKRC reported. The victim also reportedly showed visible signs of physical abuse.

In an interview with police, Holland said the boy had been complaining about having a stomachache about three days earlier and reportedly “admitted seeking no medical care for him after a recent fall.” She allegedly told investigators with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office that she “was preoccupied with another child the day of the incident.”

When authorities confronted Stalling about the victim’s dire condition, he immediately responded, “We feed him,” WXIX reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.

However, the other two children in the house were reportedly also found to be in bad shape.

“It was further determined that [the victim’s] siblings, 8 and 6, who also reside with Ms. Holland, were malnourished and required hospitalization for medical treatment,” the affidavit reportedly said.

Investigators executed a search warrant and recovered “bungee cords, a belt, and soiled towels observed inside a vehicle registered to Ms. Holland,” authorities said.

Elmwood Place Police Chief Randy Newsom, who has been on the job for 30 years and was at the scene when authorities responded to the home, described it as “the worst case of child abuse and neglect that I’ve ever seen.” He added, “I’ve never seen anything this bad in my life.”

“He’s terribly malnourished and looks like some, maybe some signs of abuse, but he will probably survive,” the chief told WXIX.

The boy’s grandfather told the station he’d seen a photo of his grandson, saying it was “literally the most horrific, disturbing thing I have ever seen in my life.”

Stalling and Holland are currently being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on $600,000 bond each, records show. Their case will be presented to a grand jury on Oct. 3.