MADISON, Wis. - Bail has been set at $20,000 apiece for a Madison man and wife who are accused of torturing and starving the man's 15-year-old daughter over a period of years.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports the 15-year-old was only 70 pounds and told police she was forced to live in the basement since about 2006.
A police affidavit says the girl told police that her father, 40-year-old Chad Chritton and her step-mother, 42-year-old Melinda Drabek-Chritton forced her to drink her own urine and eat her feces. She ate what she could find on the floor, in the laundry or in the garbage.
The girl says her father and stepmother also physically abused her.
Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain says a passerby notified police after seeing the girl wearing only pajamas and walking barefoot near her home Feb. 6.
A doctor specializing in child abuse who examined the girl Friday said she suffered from "serial torture with prolonged exposure to definite starvation," DeSpain said.
Dr. Barbara Knox of American Family Children's Hospital told police the malnutrition the girl suffered "poses a significant risk of death" and that chronic starvation had caused her puberty to be arrested, the affidavit states. Knox also said that because of the starvation and severe malnutrition, the girl would be at high risk for other disorders and complications that can lead to death.
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