Tragic Discovery: 13-Year-Old Girl Found Deceased in Squalid Home, Say Police

Background: News footage of Kymberli Bowden’s home in High Point, N.C. (WGHP). Inset: Kymberli Bowden (Guilford County Sheriff’s Office).

Kymberli Bowden, 44, was taken into custody on Thursday after her daughter’s death led to a thorough investigation. According to a press release from the High Point Police Department, officers were dispatched to Bowden’s home on October 13 for a welfare check. Upon arrival, they encountered a distressing scene: the lifeless body of Bowden’s daughter and her twin brother, who was fortunately still alive. The conditions of the home were described in a probable cause affidavit as being littered with trash, decaying food, and various unsanitary elements.

In light of the investigation’s findings, Bowden faces serious charges: two counts of child neglect resulting in serious bodily injury and failure to report or conceal a child’s death. The police report highlights Bowden’s failure to supply her children with necessary nourishment, further noting her daughter’s lack of medical care, which tragically culminated in her death.

The surviving twin brother was not left unscathed by these dire conditions. Authorities have reported that he suffered significant psychological and mental harm due to the environment he was subjected to, which included living alongside his deceased sister. This situation has been characterized as “prolonged neglect” and “extreme trauma,” underscoring the severe impact on the young boy’s well-being.

The surviving boy, police said, “sustained serious psychological injury and mental harm” as a result of the living conditions in the home. By making him live in the same home as his deceased sister, police said this constituted “prolonged neglect” and “extreme trauma.”

A neighbor in Bowden’s neighborhood who saw police activity at her home told local Fox affiliate WGHP that Bowden was removed from her home on Oct. 13 on a gurney. No additional information was provided about her condition that day.

Police did not indicate who had custody of the surviving child.

Bowden was taken into custody on Thursday and booked into the Guilford County Jail on $1 million bond. Her next court date is scheduled for Nov. 17.