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Background: A section of the 2200 block of Aiken Street in Baltimore, Maryland (Google Maps). Insets (from left to right): Bernice Byrd and Gerald Byrd (Baltimore Police Department).
A harrowing case from Maryland has surfaced, revealing the tragic neglect of two young children. A Maryland couple’s gross negligence in caring for their children led to one child scavenging for food in a school dumpster and the heartbreaking death of another, according to authorities.
The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office announced that Bernice Byrd, 33, and Gerald Byrd, 36, have pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse resulting in death and additional charges relating to the death of their 5-year-old daughter, Zona Byrd. State’s Attorney Ivan Bates expressed outrage at the couple’s actions but acknowledged the resolution of the case as a form of justice.
“No punishment will be as severe for these defendants as living with the knowledge that they murdered their innocent child,” Bates stated. “Today’s guilty plea does ensure the safety of Zona’s siblings, who are also victims of their parents’ horrific actions.” The case, he noted, was deeply disturbing.
The grim situation came to light on October 14, 2024, when emergency services received a 911 call reporting a 5-year-old child found “unresponsive” and “cold to the touch” in a bed on the second floor of a residence located on the 2200 block of Aiken Street in Baltimore.
On Oct. 14, 2024, at a home on the 2200 block of Aiken Street in Baltimore, someone called 911, saying a 5-year-old child was “unresponsive” and found “lying in a bed” on the home’s second floor, “cold to the touch.”
The Baltimore Police Department arrived at the home and found Zona. She was pronounced dead at 12:50 p.m.
Police noted that three other children were in the home, and they were all brought to nearby Johns Hopkins Medical Center “for evaluation.” One of the kids was Zona’s 6-year-old brother, and he “appeared emaciated and could barely stand or walk when he was discovered at the scene.”
Zona herself “weighed only 17.5 pounds,” the autopsy revealed, with the state’s attorney’s office noting that “[n]o evidence was found during their examination of any sort of physical trauma that could have resulted in her death.” Like her brother, she “appeared severely emaciated and extremely malnourished,” and the clothes she was wearing “were observed to be much too large for her, and detectives later reported that she had no muscle tone.”
As police investigated the family’s home, they noticed that “all the kitchen cupboards were completely bare of any food.” Though the freezer contained frozen meat, “the only item in the refrigerator was a salad.” Furthermore, while the parents had kept “several non-perishable food items” on the second floor, those items were behind their bedroom door and closet, both of which were locked.
Investigators asked Bernice and Gerald Byrd when was the last time Zona “was provided food and nourishment, but neither would take responsibility for feeding the child, and neither could account for when they last fed the victim,” prosecutors said. “Detectives later discovered that one of the surviving children was seen going through garbage at their school in an attempt to find food.”
The parents were arrested.
The three other children in the home who were brought to the hospital were given food there, “and doctors and detectives noted that they ate quickly and intently,” the state’s attorney’s office said. The 6-year-old boy weighed just 35 pounds, and he was treated at the hospital until Oct. 26, 2024.
Bernice Byrd and Gerald Byrd are set to be sentenced on June 10. They face a maximum penalty of life in prison.